Nawaz Sharif says his punishment is being dictated

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday that the "punishment" being meted out to him is being done so at someone's behest. 

Speaking to the media after appearing before the accountability court, he added that it seemed the detailed Supreme Court order dismissing their review petition in the Panama Papers case was written by their political opponents.

"[The review petition] was a message to the accountability court that Nawaz has to be punished at any cost," alleged the former premier.

He told the media to mark his words, that the "judge will not give the punishment [on his own]" but will be dictated to do so.

Nawaz recalled that he made similar remarks in 1999 [after his government was ousted in a military coup] in the plane-highjacking case, saying he was trapped at the time and the same is being repeated today.

He also said that the principles and criteria of courts differ in his and others' cases. 

'Courts have double standards'

Responding to a journalist’s question inside the court about Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan’s bail approval by the anti-terrorism court (ATC) yesterday, Nawaz said, "the courts have double standards. We are striving against these double standards and will take this struggle to its logical end". 

On Tuesday, the ATC granted bail to Imran when he appeared in court for the first time, after being declared a proclaimed offender, in several cases of violence registered against him. 

Nawaz later reached the Punjab House where he is holding a consultative meeting with his political and legal aides. 

SC's detailed judgment 

The Supreme Court issued on Nov 7 its detailed judgment rejecting the review petitions filed by the Sharif family over its July 28 Panama Papers verdict.

On September 15, the apex court had issued a short-order rejecting the review petitions of the Sharif family and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar against the July 28 judgment. 

In the detailed order, authored by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, the apex court held that the ousted prime minister tried to fool the court and people, both inside and outside of Parliament, and never came up before the court with the whole truth

“Nawaz even tried to fool the apex court without realising, 'You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time',” it said.