Fawad Chaudhry says PTI govt respects IHC judgment

ISLAMABAD: Reacting to the Islamabad High Court order regarding release of members of Sharif family, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that the government respects the high court judgement like it respected all other decisions of the court in the past, ARY News reported.

In what can be considered the first official response from the PTI government, the minister maintained that the government respects all the country’s courts and their decisions, adding that the people and the government only want action against the corrupt elements.

“People want action against corrupt elements and want their looted money to be brought back to the country and the government is committed to this cause,” said Fawad Chaudhry.

The minister added that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is an independent institution and freely carries out all its activities.

“The people, however, have no doubt in their minds about Sharif family and their role (in the matter) as they have failed to prove from what source did they amass billions of rupees,” said Chaudhry.

The minister concluded by saying that today’s court judgement is just a part of the legal procedure and hoped that the law will take its due course with time.

The IHC judgement

The Islamabad High Court on Wednesday suspended the prison sentences handed to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Mohammad Safdar in the Avenfield corruption reference.

An IHC division bench, while hearing the appeals by the Sharifs and Capt Safdar against the July 6 accountability court verdict. The judges accepted the convicts’ petitions against the Avenfield verdict, ruling that the sentences would remain suspended until the final judgement on their appeals.

An accountability court on July 6, had handed Nawaz Sharif 10 years as jail time for owning assets beyond income and 1 year for not cooperating with NAB in the Avenfield properties corruption reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

His daughter Maryam Nawaz was given 7 years for abetment, and her husband Captain (retd) Safdar was given 1 year for non-cooperation with the anti-graft authority.