Nawaz says being punished for treason case against Musharraf

Nawaz and his family members are facing three corruption cases filed by the National Accountability Bureau under the directives of the Supreme Court.

Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday said that the corruption cases against him are “punishment” for his government filing a treason case against former dictator Pervez Musharraf.

Former Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif at a news conference in Islamabad on May 23, 2018. (Reuters)

Nawaz and his family members are facing three court cases filed by the National Accountability Bureau under the directives of the Supreme Court.

Sharif said that the cases and multiple protests against his government were reciprocal punishment for him taking legal action against Musharraf, despite being warned not to do so. He claimed that the head of an intelligence agency had told him to “resign or go on a long leave”, adding that such threats by a subordinate to the head of the state are not issued even in third world countries.

He hinted that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan Awami Tehrik parties were both in on the “conspiracy” against him.

“Before the filing of the treason case, I had met Imran Khan and he never demanded my resignation. But surprisingly after Musharraf was booked, he met (PAT chairman) Tahirul Qadri in London, where they decided to stage a sit-in against my government,” Sharif said.

“Only a few people in the armed forces staged a coup but the entire institution has to pay the cost,” he added.

Sharif said that he had already been punished for his stance on civil supremacy, recalling: “Nineteen years ago, I was detained in torture cells, I was sentenced to life imprisonment, I was handcuffed and jetted off. Was there a Panama (Papers case) at that time? The answer is simply no. At that time, too, I was demanding civil supremacy. I wanted foreign and domestic policies to be in the hand of the elected representative.”