... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf, then by the courts..., in his response to a petition in the Lahore High Court (LHC) seeking treason charges against him, has termed the allegations levelled against him as "unimaginable" and questioned how his "patriotism" could be doubted in the light of his services to the country.
Sharif has been accused of treason for allegedly trying to defame state institutions through an interview to Dawn journalist Cyril Almeida, while the same accusation has been leveled against former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for allegedly not honouring his oath of office by disclosing the minutes of a National Security Council (NSC) meeting to Nawaz.
As a three-judge bench headed by Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi resumed hearing the case today, Sharif, Abbasi and Almeida's lawyers furnished their clients' formal responses to the allegations made against them.
"A grave allegation such as treason is unimaginable [for me]," Nawaz stated in his response.
"This raises many questions in my mind. Are the millions of Pak people who made me the PM traitors too? Have the country's institutions and agencies failed that they did not know of my treason. Is someone who rids the country of terrorism a traitor?" he asked in the written statement.