Pakistan's ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is currently in London, said on Friday (6) he's returning to Pakistan soon and that he does not intend to hide like a thief.
"I will continue my struggle from jail. This is a part of the struggle," Sharif told reporters in London. Sharif, however, did not reveal when exactly he would return.
"I am returning to the country to face the jail and the handcuffs if this is the price I have to pay for loving my country," he said.
Sharif was accompanied by his daughter Maryam, who was also convicted by an accountability court in Pakistan in the corruption cases against them in the high-profile Panama Papers scandal. Maryam was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Sharif and his family are currently in London attending to his wife Kulsoom, who is undergoing treatment for cancer.
Shortly after the verdict was announced, Maryam, who has been barred from contesting the upcoming national assembly elections, took to Twitter to say that her father was returning and that attempts were being made to stop him.
In a tweet, she stated that "it is a matter of happiness for the Pakistani people, for whom, a leader is willing to take an undeterred stand and willing to preserve the sanctity of the voting system".
"This isn't new for Nawaz Sharif. He has undergone disqualification and life imprisonment before," she said in a tweet.
She also added that Sharif's resolve will not be broken in the face of adversity.
"PML-N's lions, remember this! Do not get unsettled no matter what the verdict is," she wrote. "All of this is not new for your Nawaz Sharif, he has faced exile, disqualification, and life imprisonment (sentence) in the past."
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