LAHORE: Hours after the Supreme Court’s (SC) dismissal of National Accountability Bureau’s appeal against the suspension of Sharifs’ Avenfield sentence, Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) should elect a new leader.
Taking to microblogging website Twitter on Monday, the information minister said, “The Supreme Court’s decision is legally correct, extraordinary circumstances are required for the suspension of a bail, it makes no difference to the situation, Nawaz Sharif’s political career is finished, PML-N is an important party, it should elect a new leadership”.
سپریم کورٹ کا فیصلہ قانونی طور پر بالکل درست ہے، ضمانت کی منسوخی کیلئے غیر معمولی وجوھات درکار ہوتی ہیں، اس فیصلے سے عملی صورتحال میں کوئ تبدیلی نہیں آئ ،نواز شریف کی سیاست ہمیشہ کیلئے ختم ہو چکی ہے ، نون لیگ ایک اہم سیاسی جماعت ہے انھیں نئ قیادت منتخب کرنی چاھئے
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) January 14, 2019
Earlier, a five-member bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel heard the appeal against the suspension of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law retired Capt (r) Safdar’s sentences in Avenfield Reference.
On September 19, 2018, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had suspended respective sentences of Sharif, Maryam and Safdar in the matter to which National Accountability Bureau (NAB) invoked the apex court’s appellate jurisdiction on October 22, 2018.
On November 12, after taking up the appeals, a three-member bench of the SC referred the matter to a larger bench to decide as many as 18 questions of law, including whether a detailed order of the IHC in the matter, consisting 41 pages, is permissible while dealing with the suspension of sentence.
