ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president and daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz has filed a new petition seeking annulment of the verdict in Avenfield Apartment reference.

Maryam Nawaz, through Irfan Qadir Advocate, has filed a new petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking annulment of the verdict in Avenfield reference.

The petition stated that the Accountability Court handed down the sentence on July 6, 2017 in the Avenfield apartments reference, which is a classic example of serious violations of law and political engineering.

A speech by former IHC judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui at the District Bar Association, Rawalpindi on July 21, 2018, was also attached with the petition.

“The ISI officials had approached the chief justice asking him to make sure Nawaz and his daughter should not be bailed before the elections,” the petition quoted.

“This has never been done before in the history of Pakistan. The role of the Supreme Court in the constitution is neither that of an investigator nor that of a prosecutor,” the petition stated.

Maryam urged the court to take notice of these violations, acquit them of all the charges, and quash the sentence. She also referred to Accountability Judge Arshad Malik whose video, which had gone viral, claimed that he had been “pressured and blackmailed” to convict Nawaz Sharif.

Maryam Nawaz further said that the Supreme Court supervised the investigation and prosecution in this case, the Supreme Court in a way controlled the whole process in this case. The court's role in the constitution is neither that of an investigator nor that of a prosecutor. Filing three separate references to assets was also a violation of the law. The NAB is required to act transparently.

It should be noted that an accountability court on July 06, 2018 had sentencd former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (r) Muhammad Safdar for 10, 7 and 1 year in jail respectively, in Avenfield properties reference case filed by the National Accountability Bureau.