Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif said yesterday that the Supreme Court verdicts that had removed him from the prime minister office and also barred him from heading his own political party were tantamount  to “pre-poll rigging”.
Talking to the media after attending the proceedings of the accountability court in three references the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed on the directive of the Supreme Court, Sharif said that the decision to remove him from the position of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president had deprived the party of an opportunity to contest the coming Senate elections despite being the largest political party in the country. “Such decisions could only be handed down under a martial law regime,” he said.
“It’s a matter of concern for the nation that the apex court that has removed a prime minister over Iqama and on the same ground debarred the president of a political party from running the party, is planning to disqualify him from contesting elections for lifetime. This is tantamount to pre-poll rigging,” said Sharif.
“I am very much clear that the coming decision would disqualify me for lifetime and debar me from contesting general elections,” Sharif said.
“It is up to the people of Pakistan to decide whether the recent judgements should be written in golden words or otherwise,” he said.
Regarding the accountability court’s proceedings where forensic expert Robert M Radley concluded his testimony yesterday, Sharif said that the expert had admitted to using Calibri font in 2005.
Radley was not an information technology expert but had used the font (before it was commercially available), said the former prime minister.
During Thursday’s proceedings, Radley had said the trust deed of Avenfield Apartments signed by Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz was a forged document since it was prepared in Calibri font in February 2006 while the font was not commercially available till January 2007.
Radley, the prosecution witness, said in his testimony that before January 2007 the use of the font was limited to the professionals and IT experts.
During the cross examination yesterday, he admitted that he was not an IT expert but, responding to another question, he conceded that he had downloaded Calibri font in 2005 and was also using it before its formal launch.
Also in the day, Akhtar Riaz Raja, another prosecution witness and the owner of UK-based firm Quist solicitor, testified against the Sharif family in Avenfield Apartment case from Pakistan High Commission in London via video link.
He admitted before the accountability court that he was first cousin of Wajid Zia, the head of the six-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) constituted by the Supreme Court to investigate Panama Papers leaks, and had recommended filing of references against Sharif, his children and former finance minister Ishaq Dar.
Raja rejected the impression that his law firm was selected because of his relation with Zia and said that the JIT had hired his services.
He also denied his association with any political party of Pakistan and said that his Facebook account was sufficient to seek information about his political or social associations.
Raja said that after the JIT engaged him and gave him some documents, he observed some anomalies in the papers and decided to hire a forensic expert to verify genuineness of some papers.