Accountability court says Nawaz Sharif politically victimised in plot allotment case, unfreezes assets

An accountability court in Lahore said on Thursday that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was wrongfully declared an absconder in plot allotment case and that the case proceedings show a pattern of "political victimisation".

The court on Thursday issued a detailed judgement of the reference, which was announced on June 24 about the alleged illegal allotment of plots in 1986 to the owner of a media house.

It said that the government forced the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to implicate Nawaz Sharif in a corruption case to affect his political future.

The detailed order also told NAB and revenue authorities to unfreeze Nawaz’s assets. The court also ordered copies of the judgement be sent to NAB’s chairman.

The order added that Nawaz also needs to be given the same relief extended to the main accused in the case, as per an old decision of the Supreme Court.

The court said due procedure was not followed while declaring Nawaz an absconder. The case for assets to be unfrozen was filed by shareholders of the former Prime minister’s property.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad today, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said Nawaz Sharif's acquittal in a false case was a slap in the face of the accountability system.

"For years, a political narrative of loot and corruption was run against Nawaz Sharif and his family. However, he faced all his cases bravely and presented himself and the family for accountability."

She said Nawaz Sharif's political opponents lodged false cases against him to sabotage his political career, but he stood vindicated today.

The minister said the bogus cases were also registered during the previous government led by PTI chief Imran Khan.

Marriyum said the PTI chief, who used NAB to "fix" his political opponents, was now himself facing NAB cases.