Pakistan: Days before polls, leader in Nawaz Sharif’s party gets life sentence in narcotics case

President Shehbaz Sharif raised doubts about the judgement and its timing, calling the case ‘politically motivated’.

An anti-narcotics court in Pakistan on Saturday sentenced Hanif Abbasi of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party to jail for life in a narcotics case from 2012. Abbasi, a key leader of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s party, now stands disqualified from the July 25 elections. He was set to contest against Sheikh Rashid of the Awami Muslim League from NA-60 Rawalpindi.

The judgement issued on Saturday by the Control of Narcotics Substances court said that all charges against Abbasi were found to be true, reported The Express Tribune. He was also fined Rs 1 million, said a report in Dawn. Seven others, including Ali Musa Gilani, son of former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani, and former health minister



Makhdoom Shahbuddin, were acquitted.

Shehbaz Sharif, president of the party, raised doubts about the judgement and its timing, calling the case “politically motivated”.

Abbasi was arrested from the court premises by the Anti-Narcotics Force and sent to Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where former Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz, and son-in-law Safdar Awan are already imprisoned. Security in and around the court was on high alert.

Abbasi faced charges of misusing 500 kg of ephedrine, a controlled substance and stimulant, obtained in 2010 for his company, Gray Pharmaceutical. The court ruled that 363 kg of the substance was accounted for while the rest was missing, with Abbasi unable to account for it, reported Geo News. He was accused of selling on the missing amount to narcotics smugglers.