Abbasi says Sharif ready to be jailed for principles

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said former premier Nawaz Sharif is ready to get imprisoned for the sake of his principles.

Abbasi made his remarks during an interview to anchor person Talat Hussain on Geo News' programme 'Naya Pakistan'.

The Prime Minister also maintained that he did not expect Sharif to be given justice by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) court.

Sharif is currently embroiled in several political and corruption cases.

Earlier in the month, during an interview with the Dawn, Sharif had stated that "Militant organisations are active. Call them non-state actors, should we allow them to cross the border and kill 150 people in Mumbai? Explain it to me. Why can't we complete the trial?"

His remarks were immediately picked up by Indian media, which termed the former prime minister's statement as a confession of Pakistan's role in the Mumbai attacks that left 166 people dead.

He faced a massive backlash at home for his statement.

In April, he was disqualified by the Pakistan's Supreme Court from standing for elections for the rest of his life.

A five-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Saqib Nisar, gave the unanimous verdict on several identical petitions pertaining to the duration of disqualification of a politician under Article 62(1)(f) of the Pakistan Constitution.

In July last year, country's apex court disqualified Sharif from holding the office of the prime minister and asked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file references against the Sharif family in connection with corruption cases against them.

The Sharifs are facing multiple corruption references in the accountability court.

Meanwhile, Abbasi has expressed hope that a consensus would be achieved on the interim Prime Minister's name by Monday.