Nawaz requests accountability court to delay verdict in Avenfield case

LONDON: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif requested on Wednesday the accountability court to delay the verdict in the Avenfield reference case. 

"I am not a dictator who will run away from the courts," he said, while speaking to the media outside Harley Clinic. "My wife has been on a ventilator since the last 21 days. I want to hear the verdict in the court room where I have presented myself with my daughter over 100 times.”

Earlier, the accountability court said it will announce its verdict in the Avenfield reference case on July 6.

Nawaz and his family are facing three corruption cases in the accountability court after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed references against them in light of the Supreme Court's verdict in the Panama Papers case last year.

The PML-N leader said that irrespective of the decision, whether it is in his favour or not, he will return to Pakistan. 

"I will return as soon as Kulsoom's health improves," he said. "She underwent an operation yesterday."

The former prime minister said that the court gave a verdict on the eligibility of a politician from Rawalpindi after reserving the decision for as many as three months. 

"I am not asking for three months but a relief for some days," he said. 

Nawaz said that doctors have expressed hope that his wife's health will be out of danger in the coming days.

Nawaz said that he is facing one-sided investigations from July 2017, but the nation is standing with him. "The nation supports my 'respect for vote' stance," he said.

The former prime minister said that the nation's decision on July 25 will change the destiny of the country. 

"The entire nation is aware of the one-sided actions against me," he said. 

Nawaz said that he is ready to give any sacrifice for the peoples' right to govern and his stance on respecting the sanctity of vote. 

"I am peoples' representative, I won't disappoint the nation by displaying cowardice. Those who are stopping the peoples' right to govern will receive exemplary treatment by the masses," the three-time elected prime minister affirmed. 

Ready to go to prison, says Maryam Nawaz

Maryam Nawaz remarked ealier on Wednesday that she is willing to go to prison to pay the high price of the path she has taken.

When asked if she is ready to go to prison, she remarked: "I am absolutely ready.

“There is nothing to be scared of. Once you have picked up this flag of a work which no one has done in last 70 years, there is a price we have to pay and we are paying currently,” she added.

“There is a cost which one must pay and I am aware of it.”

Maryam's comments come a day after the accountability court, hearing the Avenfield reference against the Sharif family, had reserved its verdict in the case.