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Former Pakistani Prime Minister, Family File Appeals

by Ayaz Gul

   ISLAMABAD --

   Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has appealed his 10-year
   prison sentence. His daughter and political heir, Maryam, and his
   son-in-law Mohammad Safdar have also appealed their convictions.

   The appeals were filed Monday with the Islamabad High Court.

   Authorities in Pakistan swiftly arrested Sharif and Maryam after the
   two landed in the eastern city of Lahore on a commercial flight from
   Britain Friday.

   The arrest was made in connection with a recent verdict from an
   anti-corruption court. Sharif and his daughter were sentenced in
   absentia to 10 years and seven years in prison respectively for failing
   to explain how they acquired expensive properties in London.

   Safdar was given a one-year sentence for failing to cooperate with the
   National Accountability Bureau and for aiding and abetting Sharif and
   Maryam.

   Legal experts say without surrendering to authorities, Sharif would
   have not been eligible to appeal the verdict.

   Tens of thousands of supporters and leaders of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim
   League-Nawaz (PML-N) party flooded the streets in Lahore all day Friday
   in anticipation of the arrest of their leader. They also intermittently
   clashed with riot police in parts of the capital of the country's most
   populous province of Punjab.

   The provincial government beefed up security ahead of Sharif's arrival
   in Lahore and detained scores of protesters in their bid to deter
   massive gatherings near the airport and prevent them from creating law
   and order problems, officials said.

   Sharif had denounced the verdict as politically motivated and accused a
   covert military-judiciary alliance of trying to keep him out of
   politics and undermining the integrity of his PML-N party to enable
   alliance favorites to win Pakistan's national elections on July 25.

   PML-N candidates have also alleged Pakistan's intelligence agency, ISI,
   is pressuring and intimidating them to switch loyalties and contest the
   polls as independents.

   A spokesman for Pakistan's Independent Election Commission, which
   oversights the polls, urged candidates Thursday to come forward to
   register complaints if they are being intimidated.

   The army has strongly rejected charges it is meddling in the democratic
   process, or muzzling the media, to rig the polls in favor of the
   Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, led by sports
   celebrity-turned-politician Imran Khan.

   "We don't have a political party. We don't have a loyalty," the army
   spokesman said earlier this week. Major-General Asif Ghafoor also
   dismissed suggestions his institution is forcing Sharif's supporters to
   switch parties.

   He said the election commission has requested that the army assist in
   organizing a "fair and free" election on July 25 and more than 370,000
   troops are being deployed at polling stations around Pakistan to
   achieve the objective.

   Khan, who has been leading legal battles and demanding Sharif's
   accountability through street protests, denies his party is colluding
   with the military.