KARACHI: Declaring that he will return to Pakistan, ousted prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supreme leader Nawaz Sharif has sought further delay in the pronouncement of a judgement in the Avenfield property reference against him.

Accompanied by his daughter Maryam Nawaz outside London’s Harley Clinic where his wife Kulsoom Nawaz has been under treatment, Mr Sharif told the media that his lawyer would file an application in the accountability court of Islamabad on Thursday (today) seeking to delay the pronouncement of the verdict that was reserved for July 6 (Friday).

Reading out a written statement, Mr Sharif said he wished to see his wife, who had been on a ventilator for the past 21 days, regain consciousness before returning to Pakistan.

Mr Sharif, who became his party’s supreme leader after the Supreme Court barred him from holding the office of party president, said he had faced all court decisions and would like to hear the judgement in the Avenfield property reference in the same courtroom where “I along with my daughter Maryam have faced over a hundred hearings”.

Says he will return to Pakistan as soon as his wife’s condition improves

He reiterated he would return to Pakistan and face the situation as soon as his wife’s condition improved.

“I will go to Pakistan whether the decision comes in my favour or God forbid against me.”

Referring to the Orange Line train case and the one seeking Shaikh Rashid’s disqualification, Mr Sharif said the courts had reserved their verdicts for months in the two cases. He said he sought delay for only a few days and not months.

In a thinly veiled reference to retired Gen Pervez Musharraf, the PML-N supremo said: “I am not a military dictator who will run away [from courts]. I am the representative of 200 million Pakistani people and I will never disappoint the nation by showing cowardice.”

He claimed that he was ready to give any sacrifice for the respect of the vote. “The people are going to announce their verdict on July 25 [the day of polling]... Insha’Allah their verdict will change the fate of the nation.”

Without naming his friend-turned-foe Chaudhry Nisar who has been allotted the ‘jeep’ symbol to contest election as an independent candidate, Mr Sharif said the people would make an example of “those having jeep symbol and those having jeeps”.

Against the backdrop of July 5 — the day when Gen Ziaul Haq had imposed martial law 41 years ago, when Mr Sharif was asked if there was any threat of martial law or dictatorship, he said: “Pakistan is passing through the worst period. Is media free? Who has restricted the media? Who are the people trying to curtail the distribution of some newspapers or taking some TV [channels] off-air?

“What these people are doing with Pakistan? They are a handful of people but our institutions are facing the fallout of their acts,” he said, adding that the state institutions were being maligned because of a few people. “I don’t think it is good for Pakistan. Our institutions were not created for this,” he said, adding that the masses should also raise their voice on this issue.

However, he sidestepped the question as to why the PML-N president and his younger brother Shahbaz Sharif, who has been running his election campaign in Pakistan, did not talk about any restrictions. He said he himself was raising this issue.

Redirecting the conversation to the condition of his ailing wife, he expressed the hope that she would soon regain consciousness and the ventilator would be removed.

Earlier, Maryam Nawaz, who has been with her father in the UK since June 14, told the media that she was ready to face court decision and go to prison.

She said there was no question of announcing a boycott of the July 25 elections.

On Tuesday, the accountability court of Islamabad had fixed July 6 for the pronouncement of verdict in the Avenfield properties reference against Mr Sharif, Maryam and her husband retired Capt Mohammad Safdar.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2018