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Sharif pardon invokes harsh criticism

Pakistan’s religious parties bitterly criticised Pakistan’s military rulers as former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was pardoned and exiled to Saudi Arabia on Sunday, AFP reported on Wednesday. The secretary-general of Jamaat-i-Islami, Syed Munawar Hussain, considered the event was a “major blow” to the credibility of the regime’s accountability drive to punish the corrupt. He also called for the closure of the National Accountability Bureau, which was overseeing the crackdown on politicians, former bureaucrats and retired military officers accused of corruption. Nawaz Sharif was given a 14-year jail sentence in April for tax evasion and asset concealment. He was also later found guilty on hijacking charges relating to events on the day of last year’s coup in Pakistan. A government announcement said that Sharif had been pardoned from serving the rest of his prison term, but that large fines, the forfeiture of property worth almost US $10 million and a ban on holding public office for 21 years would remain. Hussain considered that it was “unfortunate for the country that both the corrupt rulers of the country, Benazir [Bhutto] and Sharif, had succeeded in taking refuge abroad” and that the “campaign to bring back looters had become a farce”.

This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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