PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif on Saturday broke his silence on the apology issued by British publication The Mail on Sunday and news site Mail Online — regarding the “error” in an article it had published in 2019 — and said it was evidence of innocence.

Talking to reporters in London, Sharif said that the people PTI chief Imran Khan accused of corruption have been “given certificates of their innocence from the courts and governments here (in London)”.

He added: “Then an apology is made from the newspapers here (in London) that ‘forgive us, we published incorrect news’. Now tell me [if you] see the difference yourself.”

Sharif claimed that the accusations — of “money laundering, corruption, and misuse of office and funds; and afterwards […] of kickbacks here” — were made by the newspaper against Shehbaz Sharif “per the directions of Imran Khan and Shahzad Akbar”.

He highlighted that the National Crime Agency — the UK’s national law enforcement agency — had also given a “clean chit to Shehbaz Sharif sahab regarding the cases some time ago”.

“This is Britain. There isn’t PML-N’s government here, or PTI’s or any other Pakistani political party’s. It is an independent country where there is democracy and people’s rule. Such a country is saying all this. What can be bigger evidence of someone’s innocence than this?” the PML-N supremo asked.

‘50 billion rupees’

The former prime minister also claimed that Imran had been involved in “corruption amounting to Rs50 billion”.

Nawaz then cited the PTI’s Billion Tree Project — which is being investigated by the National Accountability Bureau — and the transfer of land to Al-Qadir Trust, for which Imran and his wife are the trustees as claimed by Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah.

He added that “people will get goosebumps” upon hearing the “special details” regarding these cases when they would eventually be investigated.

The PML-N supremo lambasted Imran saying, “The person who himself is indulged in corruption from the head to toe, he accuses others of corruption?”

Services of PML-N

Sharif emphasised that his party “made Pakistan an atomic power”.

“Our services on every front and in every sector are in front of the nation; if someone (the public) does not even understand now, then how can they be made to understand?” he added.

The former prime minister lamented: “We kept on letting cases be registered against us. We had to endure exile for no reason, had to endure jail for no reason. Even a hijacking case was made against me; tell me which hijacking case has come forward till today.”

He bashed Imran Khan’s government demanding him to “name a single project whose foundation he has laid and that he can say with pride that ‘we started this project and have led it to completion’”.

Addressing the people of Pakistan, the former premier said, “I would also say to the Pakistani nation that they should look at all these things very carefully and understand them.”