Don't make a mockery of justice, says Maryam Nawaz after indictment

ISLAMABAD: Maryam Nawaz said on Thursday that a mockery should not be made of the system of justice. 

Speaking to the media outside the court after her indictment, she wondered where the "boxes full of evidence" [prepared by the Panama case JIT] went.  

She also said that the party [PML-N] is united and those attempting to break the party are themselves breaking. 

"The party is still following the policy of Nawaz Sharif," she added. 

Maryam pleads not guilty 

After being indicted in the Avenfield properties case alongside her father and husband, Maryam said in court that she does not plead guilty. 

"[The] charges are not only groundless, baseless, unfounded and also frivolous and on top of that we are being denied our right to a fair trial," she said.

The charges are being framed on a report that is incomplete and controversial, she said, adding that this will go down in history as a mockery and travesty of justice.

"Moreover, the charges are being framed without awaiting the detailed order of Supreme Court in [our] review petition," she argued.

'Sicilian Mafia'

Earlier in the day, before her indictment, Maryam said that it is for the first time the ‘Sicilian Mafia’ is appearing before the courts. 

The former prime minister's daughter was likely referring to a reference to the notorious mafia by the Supreme Court in June this year while hearing a contempt case against the then ruling party member Senator Nehal Hashmi.  

Hashmi, in a leaked video, had threatened those "investigating the prime minister's son".

Talking to members of the media inside the courtroom where a corruption hearing against her and family was under way, Maryam said, “First they awarded us a punishment and then the trial started”. 

She said Nawaz Sharif is likely to come back at the end of this week or next week, adding that her mother Kulsoom’s health is improving and she is undergoing chemotherapy. 

During the hearing, Maryam, who was reciting verses on a tasbeeh (prayer beads), was examining the media coverage of the trial on her mobile phone. 

Mafia reference 

The apex court, which took suo motu notice of the remarks, came down hard on Hashmi over his controversial speech, with Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed commenting that only mafias and terrorists threaten children in the way that he [Hashmi] did.

Justice Azmat also 'congratulated' the attorney general for being part of a 'mafia' government.

Moreover, Supreme Court Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, in his dissenting judgment of April 20, 2017 in the Panama Papers case, had begun his judgment with a quote from The Godfather.