Maryam Nawaz remanded in custody of Pak''s anti-graft body till August 21 : International News

Lahore: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif''s daughter and vice-president of Opposition PML-N, Maryam Nawaz, was on Friday sent to the custody of Pakistan''s anti-graft body till August 21 in a money laundering case. An accountability court remanded her in the National Accountability Bureau''s custody for 12 days after the bureau''s prosecutor sought her physical remand for dubious share and money transactions of the Chaudhry Sugar Mills (CSM) of which she is a major shareholder.

Opposition parties have condemned Maryam''s arrest, saying the Imran Khan government''s action amounts to dividing the nation at this crucial juncture when unity is required to give a befitting response to the Indian government for scrapping the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. Maryam''s arrest came in a dramatic way on Thursday. She was present at the Kot Lakhpat jail on her weekly visit to her father along with her daughter and Sharif''s nephew Yousaf Abbas when a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) team accompanied by policewomen entered the prison cell and showed her arrest warrants in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills (CSM) case. Sharif''s nephew Abbas was also arrested and remanded in the NAB custody till August 21.

Maryam, 45, was supposed to appear before the NAB on Thursday for questioning in the sugar mills inquiry but she sought more time for submitting her response and went to meet her father in jail instead. She was arrested for not appearing before the anti-graft watchdog. After the arrest, Sharif''s personal physician Adnan Khan said, “Maryam has been arrested inside the Kot Lakhpat Jail in front of her ailing father and also in presence of young teenage daughter. She was on a weekly scheduled visit to see her father. It can''t be worse than this." During her appearance in the accountability court, the PML-N workers clashed with police.

The NAB had requested a 15-day physical remand but the court approved a 12-day physical remand of the two accused. At the start of the hearing, accountability court judge Naeem Arshad asked the NAB prosecutor to detail the reasons why the bureau had initiated an inquiry against Maryam. The NAB prosecutor told the court that Maryam was a shareholder of Chaudhry Sugar Mills and she failed to give satisfactory answers to their queries. The NAB officials presented a list of questions in the court which they claimed were not answered by the PML-N leader. According to the bureau, Yousaf''s bank account was used to launder money.

The government has accused the Sharif family of using the sugar mills for money laundering and availing millions of rupees in subsidy without actually exporting sugar. Before her arrest Maryam told reporters that she might be arrested. "If they want to arrest me, arrest me. I had earlier been arrested. Nawaz Sharif, Rana Sanaullah and others had been arrested not for accountability. This is the accountability through videos," she had said refereeing to the purported video of the accountability judge in which he claimed that he was pressurised to give verdict against Sharif in Al-Azizia Mills case. "Selected Imran Khan is afraid.

He told his cronies that if Nawaz Sharif came out of jail his government could not function,” she said. Her arrest came a day after she accused Prime Minister Khan of "fall of Kashmir" and demanded registration of a treason case against him. Besides, she has been challenging the powerful military establishment for installing the Khan government through a stolen mandate. She also asked the Opposition not to give any support to the Imran Khan government at this stage as it would lead to more disasters and graver ones. “This government is badly and desperately looking for support to cover up the blunders that it has committed which have had serious implications on Pakistan. Do not give them a bailout.

They are the ones responsible for plunging Pakistan into this crisis. It will not end here. Opposition, beware,” she had said. PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif condemned her arrest, saying it was a "political revenge" by the Imran Khan government. “Arresting Maryam in front of her father and children is highly condemnable, regrettable and shameful,” he said. He said Prime Minister Khan should focus on the Kashmir issue instead of targeting the Opposition.