"Nawaz Sharif will be in and out of jail": Pak minister

"Nawaz Sharif will be in and out of jail," a senior Pakistani minister said Thursday, downplaying the release of the ousted prime minister from jail on bail in a corruption case.

Fawad Chaudhry, Minister of Information in Prime Minister Imran Khan's Cabinet, pointed out that Sharif had only secured bail, not been vindicated of the charges against him.

The Islamabad High Court Wednesday suspended the jail sentences of Sharif, his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar in the Avenfield corruption case and they were released from the Adiala Prison in Rawalpindi.

An accountability court in Islamabad sentenced Sharif, Maryam and Safdar, to 10 years, seven years and one year in jail, respectively, on July 6 in connection with the purchase of four luxury flats in London through corrupt practices.

"Nawaz Sharif will be in and out of jail. The first thing I would like to do is address those people who kept asking why we put the Sharif family's name on the exit-control list (ECL). I guess now they know why we did it: had we not, they could have flown to London yesterday evening, and where would we have looked for them then?"
The information minister also said that Prime Minister Khan does not have a personal feud with the Sharifs, "The government is simply the custodian of the wealth of the Pakistani people and we need to bring the looted wealth back to the country."