ISLAMABAD, Dec 9: President Rafiq Tarar has pardoned former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s 25-year jail sentence but exiled the former prime minister and his family, a government announcement said in the wee hours of Sunday. “On the advice of the chief executive, the president of Pakistan, according to law has pardoned Nawaz Sharif’s remaining jail sentence while the rest of the punishment awarded by the honourable courts, which includes fine, forfeiture of property and disqualification from public office would remain in place,” the announcement said. “Nawaz Sharif and family have been exiled to Saudi Arabia.
This decision has been taken in the best interest of the country and the people of Pakistan,” it said. The former prime minister was awarded 14 years’ Imprisonment on corruption charges, fined Rs20 million and disqualified from contesting election for 21 years. Mr Sharif, who was removed by the army in a bloodless coup, was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of hijacking the plane in which General Pervez Musharraf was travelling. He had appealed in the high court, which had rejected the plea. He was fined Rs500,000 and forfeiture of property worth Rs500 million. The official announcement said that Nawaz Sharif and his family had been appealing to the chief executive and the president of Pakistan requesting clemency. They had also filed a petition requesting for waiver of punishment awarded by the Sindh High Court and the accountability court in the helicopter case. “Nawaz Sharif and his family had pleaded his falling health and need of specialist medical care urgently requesting that he may be allowed to proceed abroad for treatment. The Sharif family had also submitted that they be allowed to accompany him,” the announcement said.
SAUDI ROLE: Indirectly admitting that the deal had been brokered by Saudi Arabia, the announcement said that recently, Pakistan’s closest friend Saudi Arabia offered the Government of Pakistan to accept the Sharif family for medical treatment on humanitarian grounds if exiled to their country. Sources said that Saudi defence minister and former intelligence chief Prince Turki Al Faisal, arrived in Islamabad “this morning on a special plane and held detailed talks with the military government officials as well as with Begum Kulsoom Nawaz at the residence of Saudi ambassador to Pakistan. The Saudi prince, according to Raja Zafarul Haq, also met Nawaz Sharif in Attock jail this afternoon along with Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, to give final touches to the deal. Nawaz Sharif, according to latest reports, has been brought from Attock Fort and admitted to the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology in Rawalpindi.
Sources in the Pakistan Muslim League claimed that Nawaz Sharif was averse to leaving the country but his son Hasan Nawaz, who is now in London, has played a decisive role in convincing his father to accept the deal. These sources said that under the deal, Nawaz Sharif and his family would not return to Pakistan for 10 years. The deal has fuelled speculations about the restoration of the suspended assemblies. However, some political analysts believe that an interim political structure will be established in the country and the army will step down after ensuring “due share” in the new political structure
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