News Desk |
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Maryam Nawaz called Prime Minister Imran Khan ‘a part of the mafia that pressurises judges into targeting and punishing its political opponents.’
Maryam, who was released on bail after being convicted in the Avenfield Apartments reference, has accused PM Khan of using the state institutions to settle score with opponents. She said that the premier has defaced and maligned them in the process.
The daughter of the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is in jail after he was convicted and sentenced in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference, expressed her views while replying to a tweet shared by PM Khan earlier today.
I was told that Mian Sahib is willing to pay whatever I demand on acquitting him in both references. However, I declined the bribe offered to me while committing remains sticking to merits.
While replying the tweet of PM Khan, Maryam said, “You’re a part of the mafia that pressurises judges into targeting and punishing your political opponents. It is you who used the institutions to settle scores with your opponents and defaced and maligned them in the process. Shame on you.”
You’re a part of the mafia that pressurises judges into targeting & punishing your political opponents. It is you who used the institutions to settle scores with your opponents & defaced & maligned them in the process. Shame on you. https://t.co/tRgTAdv2DM
— Maryam Nawaz Sharif (@MaryamNSharif) July 13, 2019
Has PM Khan Called Sharifs “Sicilian mafia”?
On Saturday morning, PM Khan tweeted that the Pakistani mafia uses different tricks to blackmail, threats and pressurize the judiciary and other institutions just like the ‘Sicilian mafia’.
In a post on Twitter, PM Khan said: “In a similar vein to the “Sicilian mafia”, the Pakistani mafia uses tactics of bribe, threat, blackmail and begging to pressurise state institutions and judiciary in order to protect their billions of money laundering stashed abroad.”
In a similar vein to the "Sicilian mafia", the Pakistani mafia uses tactics of bribe, threat, blackmail and begging to pressurise state institutions and judiciary in order to protect their billions of money laundering stashed abroad.https://t.co/DcXWNZntq3
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) July 13, 2019
Tug of War over Judge’s Video
The premier’s statement has come after the accountability court judge Muhammad Arshad Malik, who is currently embroiled in a video controversy, accused the members of Sharif family of offering him Rs100 million as bribe for favorable decisions in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Flagship Investment references of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Read more: Leaked Video of Judge Arshad Malik: How will it Impact the Ongoing Cases against the Sharifs?
“Nasir Janjua came to meet me and claimed that he had the cash equivalent of Rs100 million in Euros for me immediately available out of which the Euro equivalent of Rs20 million was laying in his car parked outside,” the judge stated in his statement.
Additionally, in his letter to the Islamabad High Court, Judge Malik has claimed that he was offered Rs500 million bribe by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s son Hussain Nawaz.
Apart from the money, the judge said that he was offered settlement abroad along with family if he resigned on the grounds that he could no longer deal with the guilt of convicting Sharif in the Al-Azizia reference without evidence.
“I was told that Mian Sahib is willing to pay whatever I demand on acquitting him in both references. However, I declined the bribe offered to me while committing remains sticking to merits,” he said in his letter.
Read more: Post-affidavit scenario: Has Maryam Nawaz won the battle?
In the letter, the judge has admitted that two persons, Nasir Janjua and Mahar Jilani, have met him since he was appointed Accountability Court-II Judge Islamabad and demanding him to give the decision in favor of ex-PM Sharif in the NAB references.
Following a request by IHC to remove judge Malik, the federal government relieved him from his duties over his alleged involvement in the video scandal.