LONDON: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has said that he would leave for Pakistan on Sunday if he does not get an exemption from appearing before an accountability court hearing corruption references against him.
Speaking to newsmen here, Nawaz said that he had requested doctors to allow his wife to be taken home on weekend, which they approved. "Life goes through ups and downs, while sometimes all the problems come together.
"Entire world knows; some biggest offenders have been living freely. One is sitting abroad, whereas the other is inside the country," he lamented. "But the one who did not receive salary from his son was removed from party's presidency and disqualified for life."
The former premier said that he came straight to the hospital from airport to see his ailing wife.
Noting that 1.8 million cases had been pending in [Pakistani] courts, he said that "people have been suffering in courts, but there's no one to inquire about them."
"People have spent ages but they were not served justice," Nawaz said, adding, "This is the basic responsibility of courts, all else comes later."
Nawaz and his family are facing three corruption cases in the accountability court after the National Accountability Bureau filed references against them in light of the Supreme Court's verdict in the Panama Papers case.
The next hearing of the case is on April 23.
The former prime minister and his daughter Maryam Nawaz arrived in London on Wednesday night to visit the ex-premier's wife, who is undergoing treatment for cancer here.
Begum Kulsoom has been undergoing chemotherapy in London after being diagnosed with lymphoma — a cancer of the lymph nodes — in the middle of last year.
She has undergone six chemotherapy sessions in total and had three surgeries during the last seven months.
On March 6, doctors treating the former prime minister's wife had noted the reappearance of tumour nodes.
Begum Kulsoom was first diagnosed with the disease by British doctors on August 22, 2017, after having left for London unexpectedly on August 17 for a medical checkup.
It is noteworthy that she flew out the same day as when her nomination papers for the NA-120 constituency were accepted amid much political hype. She later bagged the Lahore seat, vacated after her husband's disqualification from Parliament, with help from Maryam who campaign vigorously on her behalf.