Sharif being provided 'official protocol' is shameful: Imran Khan

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Tuesday expressed outrage over deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif being accorded "official protocol" at the Islamabad airport upon his return from abroad.

Sharif returned to Pakistan from London on Monday and then appeared before an accountability court on Tuesday for the hearing of National Accountability Bureau references against him.

Khan, in a tweet, regretted that a "disgraced" and disqualified PM, who faces charges of tax evasion, forgery and money laundering, was being accorded special consideration as per "official protocol" at the international airport and described it as shameful.

The PTI chief further tweeted that the move sent a wrong message to the society, that the powerful can break laws with impunity. "Clearly this is mafia rule, not democracy," he added.

Khan also called for the resignation of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief for visiting Sharif in London.

Sharif returned to Pakistan on Monday after spending more than three weeks in London and went straight into several consultation sessions with party leaders about his future plans.

He left for London on August 30 days after his wife, Kulsoom Nawaz, was diagnosed with lymph node cancer. Since then, she had undergone three surgeries in the British capital, with Sharif and their sons beside her.

A five-member Supreme Court bench had disqualified Sharif from the PM's office on July 28 for failing to declare a salary, which he had not withdrawn as an executive of Dubai-based company, as an asset when filing his nomination papers in 2013.

--IANS

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