The police in Pakistan have filed several First Information Reports against leaders of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, charging them with involvement in terrorism, inciting violence and attempted murder following unrest in Lahore on Friday, The Express Tribune reported on Monday. This comes just days before the general election in the country.
The case relates to a march staged by party workers on Friday, defying a ban on holding public rallies ahead of Nawaz Sharif’s arrival in the country. Sharif was arrested minutes after landing in Lahore on Friday after being sentenced by an accountability court in a corruption case. Sharif’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz, was also arrested in the case.
The FIR lodged with the Lohari police station accuses Shahbaz Sharif and other leaders of hurling stones at law enforcement agencies officials allegedly with an intention to kill them, Dawn reported. The main allegations against the PML-N leaders include damaging public buildings and properties, threatening and injuring the law enforcement agencies officials. They have also been accused of interfering in official work, besides holding illegal rallies.
According to Lahore Police, a total of 12 FIRs have been lodged against the suspects, including Shahbaz Sharif, former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and 50 other leaders of the party.
“We are taking action against PML-N leaders,” the caretaker home minister of Punjab, Shaukat Javed, told Reuters on Sunday. “But no one will be arrested before the elections,” Javed said, adding that including the terrorism charges was a mistake that would be corrected later.
Musadik Malik, a PML-N leader, said the FIRs were an attempt at intimidation and political victimisation.
Pakistan Peoples Party leader and former President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the initiation of terrorism cases against PML-N workers, saying every citizen has the democratic right to hold rallies and public meetings, reported Dawn.
Corruption cases against Nawaz Sharif, family
The National Accountability Bureau had filed three cases against Sharif and his children related to the purchase of four flats in London’s Avenfield House. The bureau registered the case on the basis of the Supreme Court’s orders in its July 28 Panama gate verdict, which removed Sharif from the post of prime minister.
The agency had also named Sharif’s sons – Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz – as accused in the three cases. Sharif’s family insisted that they had purchased the apartments with “legitimate” financial resources but were unable to disclose those resources before either the accountability court or the Supreme Court.
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