Deposed Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif can be arrested if the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo does not secure transit bail while returning to the country from the United Kingdom, the country's Law Minister has said.
Mr. Sharif – against whom several corruption cases were launched by the government of former Prime Minister Imran Khan – had left for London in November 2019 after the Lahore High Court granted him four-week permission allowing him to go abroad for his treatment.
Federal Minister for Law Azam Nazeer Tarar said Tuesday that if former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif does not secure transit bail while coming back to Pakistan, he can be arrested, Geo News reported.
The 72-year-old supremo of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is the elder brother of the current Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
In 2020, Islamabad High Court’s Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani issued non-bailable arrest warrants for the PML-N supremo after he failed to return to Pakistan following the expiry of his bail.
Time and again, there have been rumours of the former Prime Minister’s return to Pakistan, but the speculation gained momentum after the formation of the coalition government in April — as the PML-N is the major player in the coalition.
The three-time Prime Minister had given an undertaking to the Lahore High Court to return to Pakistan, citing his record to face the process of law and justice within four weeks or as soon as he is declared healthy and fit to travel by doctors.
He was also given bail in the Al-Azizia Mills corruption case in which he was serving seven-year imprisonment in Lahore’s high-security Kot Lakhpat jail.
In his press conference on Tuesday, Mr. Tarar — a senior PML-N member said that if Nawaz Sharif receives transit bail, then he cannot be arrested upon arrival in Pakistan, the report added.
The law minister said if Nawaz Sharif fails to secure transit bail, then he will have to surrender himself and the “courts should provide (relief) to the people who are handing themselves over to the law voluntarily".
Speaking about former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf’s return to the country, Mr. Tarar said that the law will take its course and "he will be facilitated in line with the rules and regulations".
Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations Maj. Gen. Babar Iftikhar has said that the military leadership’s stance is that Musharraf should return, while top PML-N leaders, including Nawaz Sharif, have stated that no hurdles should be put in the way if the ex-president wishes to return.
Mr. Musharraf's family this month confirmed that he is in a UAE hospital in a critical condition with no possibility of recovery.
