PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz on Friday called for the verdict against her father former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to be expunged following the Islamabad High Court's (IHC) decision to remove accountability judge Arshad Malik from his post.
In a series of posts shared on Twitter, Maryam said that the matter was not about the removal of a judge instead it was about suspending the verdict that the judge had issued.
"The matter is about removing the verdict, which this judge had given under pressure, from the court record."
Judge Malik, on Dec 4, 2018, had handed ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif seven years in jail in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference. He, however, had acquitted him in a second reference related to Flagship Investments, saying "there was no case against Nawaz".
In a subsequent post, Maryam said: "The clear meaning of the removal of the judge is that the judiciary has accepted the truth."
"If this is the case, how can a verdict by this judge being maintained?"
She asked why her father was not being released if the judge, who had given the verdict in the case against him, was removed.
In a third post, Maryam asked: "A judge [...] was found guilty of misconduct and was removed from his post; how can the subject of his misconduct be punished?"
Maryam said that an individual, who had remained the prime minister of Pakistan three times, was behind bars despite being proven to be innocent today.
"Is it enough to only remove the judge? Certainly not," she wrote.
She requested the judiciary to declare void the verdict against her father and to release him without any delays.
"Now this matter is not restricted just to Nawaz Sharif. I am turning to the judiciary for justice. I will keep waiting."
'Release Nawaz immediately'
While calling for the immediate release of Nawaz, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif said that the verdict against Nawaz had become void.
The president of the PML-N said that following the judge's removal, there was no justification for keeping Nawaz in jail.
"Keeping Nawaz Sharif in jail for even a minute is now illegal."
He said that the video and all the facts connected to it had been proven to be true.
"The verdict given against Nawaz Sharif under pressure should be declared void."
Nullify the verdict, release Nawaz: PML-N
The PML-N was quick to react to the news regarding the removal of the judge, with its spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb saying that the verdict against Nawaz Sharif should be declared null and void and he should "be released immediately".
"It has been confirmed that the video is real," she said in a statement shared by the PML-N on Twitter, adding: "[The] judge sahib has conceded that he made the decisions under pressure."
Aurangzeb said that after the removal of the judge, the legal basis for the verdict against Nawaz had automatically ended.
"After the removal of the judge, it has been proven that the facts that Maryam Nawaz brought before the people of Pakistan were correct."
