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KARACHI: Politicians and journalists took to Twitter on Wednesday to express their thoughts after the Islamabad High Court suspended sentences awarded in the Avenfield properties reference to ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Mohammad Safdar.
Former premier’s brother Shahbaz Sharif tweeted a Quranic verse in the wake of the IHC verdict. “Truth has come, and falsehood has departed. Indeed is falsehood, [by nature], ever bound to depart.”
Former defence minister Khurram Dastagir Khan tweeted several times throughout the day after the IHC decision. “After a long drought, some law.”
PML-N’s Mushahid Hussain said: “Great news & good news! At long last, some justice, long overdue, has been done. The Acc Court judgement was weak & flawed, in any case, there were no charges of corruption.”
Politician Afrasiab Khattak tweeted: “In political cases it is the judiciary, more than the accused person, that’s on trail. Great are the Court decisions that are based on law, equity & fairness. Only such decisions are upheld by history. The rest go to the dustbin along with their authors.”
Journalist Mosharraf Zaidi said that “a harsh judgement by NAB now suspended by the Islamabad High Court”. “Once again, Pakistan’s institutions demonstrate incredible resilience in the face of very strong and sustained pressure. Judiciary today shows that it is more robust than it has seemed in the last year,” he wrote.
Journalist Hamid Mir said: “This is called independent judiciary Islamabad High Court ordered to release Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and son in law few months back Supreme Court suspended the disqualification of Khawaja Asif.”
International Commission of Jurist’s South Asia International Legal Adviser Reema Omer tweeted: “IHC suspends sentences of Nawaz, Maryam, Safdar pending their appeals as there were apparent errors in the trial court judgment. Today’s order illustrates what a mockery of justice Judge Bashir’s Avenfield judgment was, and how a flawed verdict changed PK’s political fortunes.”
Many users drew cricket analogies for Nawaz Sharif’s release.
Lawyer Mirza Moiz Baig said: “#NawazSharif is known to be an avid cricket fan. Keeping the politics aside, he can at least now watch the #IndiavsPakistan encounter in peace now!”
Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2018
