Nawaz Sharif plans to return to Pakistan regardless of 'whether taken to prison or gallows'

London: A defiant former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has declared that he was leaving behind his ailing wife here in Allah’s protection and returning to Pakistan regardless of whether he was “taken to prison or gallows”. Sharif, who is in London to tend to his ailing wife Kulsoom, is expected to return to Pakistan on Thursday, days after being sentenced to 11 years in prison by an anti-corruption court in the Avenfield properties case, one of the three corruption cases against him following the Panama Papers scandal.

Addressing a news conference along with his daughter Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday, the supremo of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party said that he wished to see his wife opening her eyes again, requesting the nation to pray for her speedy recovery. He said that he was returning “despite seeing a prison cell in front of him” and was saddened that he was leaving his wife behind on ventilator.

“I am returning to fulfil the promise of giving respect to vote,” the 68-year-old three-time premier said. Sharif said he would not stop now regardless of whether he was “taken to prison or gallows.” Sharif was sentenced to 11 years in prison for corrupt practices linked to his family’s purchase of four posh London flats, in a major blow to his PML-Nawaz party ahead of general elections on July 25.

The Sharif family is now facing two more corruption cases in the accountability court — Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Flagship Investments — in which they are accused of money laundering, tax evasion and hiding offshore assets. Commenting on the Avenfield case judgement, Sharif said that it was written in the verdict that he had been absolved of corruption charges.

“It had to be written in the verdict that no evidence of corruption could be found against me,” he said. “Is there any Pakistani whose three generations had to face such sort of accountability?” Sharif said the Pakistani people once again saw the “real face” of justice. “Having searched in several countries of the world, it had to be written that there was no evidence of corruption [against me>.”

He maintained that he respected every institution of Pakistan, noting that he made the country a nuclear-capable state in 1998.

Sharif also took a jibe at former Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and others who said that he will not return from London. “Those putting me on the Exit Control List should know that I am coming back, there are those who said that I will not be coming back to Pakistan, some said I will be taking political asylum but all of them were wrong, I and Maryam are coming back. This is my message to them that I am not the one who runs away,” he said.

Sharif said that former dictator Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who abrogated the constitution of Pakistan twice, remains at large and no one has the power to bring him back. “I’m coming to pay off the debt of the nation that thrice elected me the prime minister,” he said.

Sharif said that decision to disqualify him, his daughter and his son-in-law Captain Safdar was “made somewhere else”. “My enemies have gone after my family despite the fact the Joint Investigation Team head said that he found no corruption in investigations, the judge cleared us of any corruption, my daughter has been convicted who has never held a public office in her life. This is the height of revenge,” said Sharif.

Maryam Nawaz, 44, seen as the political heir of Sharif, said that going back to Pakistan “to go to prison was the most difficult decision of our lives because my mother is on the ventilator and we don’t know what happens next, their is no pain like that of leaving your mother behind in such situation but there’s a national duty and we must make this important journey”. She said that her family has faced more than 100 court appearances on “bogus” charges following the Panama Papers case.  Maryam said that Pakistan was standing at an important juncture and “these are defining times”.