Report in Dawn, Sept 14th, 2023
KARACHI: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar said on Wednesday that the decision to handcuff PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif upon his return to the country lay with law enforcement agencies, who would make the decision according to the applicable legal provisions, Dawn.com reported.
In Feb 2020, the then government had declared him an absconder, and later in the same year, an accountability court had declared him a proclaimed offender in the Toshakhana vehicles reference.
Nawaz had left the country in November 2019 on medical grounds following his conviction but never returned.
When questioned about the issue in an interview on Samaa TV, on whether the PML-N supremo would be handcuffed or not on his return, PM Kakar said: “The law enforcement agencies will decide this matter in light of the law. If they think he (Nawaz) should be chained then they will adopt that path and vice versa.”
He said this was the discretion that the leadership of agencies exercised, adding that he hoped “they do it to the best of their ability”.
When asked about growing apprehensions about a likely scenario of Nawaz being arrested upon his return, the prime minister said he was not taking the matter as a “challenge” for himself since he could not decide the issue of the PML-N supremo being behind bars or being free to move according to own wishes.
“I reiterate that the leadership of legal and law enforcement agencies is present. Whatever they decide, whether they send him (Nawaz) behind bars or allow freedom of movement, it will be the decision of the leadership of the judicial process and law enforcement.”
PM Kakar said the government would intervene where it felt the two entities were defying the law.
Asked a similar question on the treatment meted out earlier today to PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who was brought handcuffed to court for proceedings in the cipher case, the premier said he had a cordial relationship with him.
He added that it needed to be seen whether the law permitted anyone to be handcuffed, saying if the law permitted it then it was correct and vice versa……..
https://www.dawn.com/news/1775786/law-enforcers-will-decide-whether-to-handcuff-nawaz-pm-kakar
