Pakistan's new Government is considering quashing or suspending former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's conviction in corruption cases to offer him a chance to plead afresh before a court of law, according to a media report on Monday. The 72-year-old three-time premier, against whom several corruption cases were launched by the government of former prime minister Imran Khan, had left for London in November 2019 after the Lahore High Court granted him four-week permission allowing him to go abroad for his treatment.
Dawn newspaper quoted Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah as saying that both the federal and Punjab's provincial government had the powers to quash or suspend the punishment of an accused and offer him a chance to plead his case afresh before a court of law for being 'wrongly' sentenced earlier in the case.
He said that the provisions might be used to provide relief to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and others. He, however, said that Sharif would decide his homecoming on the basis of his health.