Nawaz Sharif to address rally on return on Oct 21, appear before court next day: Rana Sanaullah

Islamabad: Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif would appear in a court a day after addressing a rally at the Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore upon his return from self-imposed exile in London on October 21, according to a media report on Friday.

Sharif, the 73-year-old Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo, will kick off the election campaign of his party after a rally at the Minar-e-Pakistan.

“After appearing at the rally and announcing the final manifesto of the party, Nawaz Sharif will appear in court the next day,” the Pakistan Observer said quoting PML-N’s Punjab president Rana Sanaullah.

The announcement (by Sanaullah) comes a day after Pakistan's anti-graft body said it is reopening at least four corruption cases against Nawaz Sharif coinciding with his scheduled return to the country next month.

Nawaz had left the country in November 2019 on medical grounds after the Lahore High Court granted him bail for four weeks. He was serving a seven-year imprisonment in the Al-Azizia Mills corruption case at Kot Lakhpat Jail Lahore.

Sanaullah was addressing a consultative meeting at Gujranwala, about 100 kms north of Lahore, on Thursday, the report said.

Pakistan was on the path to prosperity when it was abruptly thrust into crisis for the third time, Sanaullah said and added, “The country can overcome its crisis by following the path laid out by Nawaz Sharif.” In the light of a Supreme Court ruling which struck down amendments made to the accountability laws by the previous Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government, led by Nawaz's younger brother Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is reopening four pending probes against Nawaz.

The cases are related to illegal plots and land allotment, dubious transfer of shares of his sugar mills and Toshakhana (national treasury gifts). Two cases relate to misusing his authority for allotting plots and illegal construction of a road in 1986 and 1998 respectively.

The third pertains to the transfer of shares in illegal manners vis-à-vis a sugar mill owned by him and his family members while the fourth is related to Toshakhana wherein he is accused of taking luxurious vehicles from the national treasury in violation of rules, officials privy to the cases had told PTI.