PPP distances itself from graft case against Nawaz Sharif

WIDENING GAP: The court on Friday will take up the three cases against Sharif.

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Islamabad: The ruling Pakistan People's Party today sought to distance itself from an anti-corruption watchdog's move to reopen graft cases against PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, with a minister saying the proceedings were initiated by former President Pervez Musharraf.

The PML-N, which last week pulled out of the PPP-led government and decided to sit in the opposition, has criticised the National Accountability Bureau's move to reopen corruption cases against Sharif, his brother Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and other members of their family.

However, senior PPP leader and Law Minister Farooq Naek said the cases against the Sharif brothers were initiated during Musharraf's rule.

The trial of the cases could not be completed because Sharif was abroad. Now that he had returned to Pakistan, the prosecutor general of NAB decided to pursue the case to take them to their conclusion, Naek said. He also said he had sought a briefing on the merits of the cases from the chairman of NAB.

"Pending cases against all persons should be taken to their conclusion without influence or political Victimisation. False cases should be ended and courts should decide cases without fear," says Naek.

The court of the Special Judge (Central) will on Friday take up the three cases against Sharif and his relatives. These cases have been pending since July 2000.

PML-N leaders said the move by NAB appeared to be aimed at using anti-corruption courts against Sharif.

PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal, a close aide of Sharif, said pursuing the cases smacked of "political bankruptcy". "Sometimes, if you cannot get things done politically, then you try to blackmail the opposition," he stated.