*ISLAMABAD - They should hang me or send me to jail, said former PM Nawaz Sharif said on Tuesday.*
He said that the Supreme Court should get the corruption references against his family transferred to itself. “Then give whatever verdict they like,” he said.
The former PM appeared before the accountability court for the Avenfield reference hearing against his family.
“Have you hired another lawyer?” asked Muhammad Bashir, the judge of the accountability court. He told Mr Sharif to either convince Khawaja Haris to resume representing him as his counsel or get another lawyer.
“We are looking for another lawyer,” replied Mr Sharif. “It’s not an easy task. Khawaja sahib was fully prepared for the case. We have been coming to the court for the past nine months. These days, we leave for the court right after *sehri*.”
“We have not accepted Khawaja sahib’s plea,” said the judge. “The [Supreme Court] order does not say that hearings are compulsory on Saturdays and Sundays.”
“Judges remarked that I speak about my wife’s illness to get media coverage,” said the former PM. “It was painful to see this.”
On Sunday, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar ordered the NAB court to wind up the hearings of all three corruption references against the Sharif family in a month. The Supreme Court rejected the plea of Khawaja Haris, who asked for six weeks to complete the trial. A day later, Haris withdrew from representing the former PM in the cases. He appeared before the accountability court on Monday along with Mr Sharif.
On the other hand, Mr Sharif consulted with the lawyer of Maryam Nawaz, Amjad Pervez, at the accountability court. Maryam Nawaz and Capt (retd) Safdar also arrived at the court for the hearing.
Meanwhile, the hearing was adjourned till June 19. Both Nawaz and Maryam were ordered to appear in the next hearing.