11- Hanif Abbasi
Hanif Abbasi had some problems because he used a lot of a drug called ephedrine for his company, Gray Pharmaceutical. This drug is used for making medicines. In June 2012, the police filed a report against Abbasi for not using the drug the right way. This report is called FIR.
In November 2012, the Lahore High Court in Rawalpindi gave Abbasi bail. Bail is like temporary freedom while waiting for a decision from the court. Just before the 2013 elections, a group against drugs gave a charge sheet to look at the case. Even though Abbasi had a problem with the law, he was still allowed to run in the election.
In July 2018, a judge named Justice Sardar Muhammad Akram said Abbasi did something wrong with the drug. He had to pay a fine of Rs. 1 million and was sent to prison for life. They arrested Abbasi in the courtroom and took him to Central Jail Rawalpindi.
On September 22, 2018, a big problem happened when a picture of Abbasi in normal clothes came out from jail. After this, they moved him from Central Jail Rawalpindi to Attock Jail. While he was in jail, Abbasi had health issues, like problems with his kidneys.
In January 2019, he had to go to Punjab Institute of Cardiology for heart procedures. Later, in March 2019, he went to Shaikh Zayed Hospital for problems with his kidneys and heart. On April 11, 2019, the Lahore High Court stopped Abbasi’s sentence for a while. The court said that the other people in the case were let go, and there were problems with how the trial happened.
10- Javed Iqbal Abbasi
Haji Javed Iqbal Abbasi got in trouble for having more money and stuff than he should have. This happened after the 1999 coup in Pakistan, where the government changed. He got arrested and found guilty in a case about having assets that he couldn’t explain.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) did an important job in all of this. They arrested Haji Javed Iqbal Abbasi in August 2000, and he got sentenced to five years in tough prison and had to pay a fine of Rs21.25 million because of the assets case.
Not only did he have to go to jail and pay a lot of money, but he also couldn’t do any public job for 10 years. This means he couldn’t be elected or chosen for any important government positions. This happens a lot in cases where people are found to do something wrong with money or are involved in corruption. It’s like a punishment to keep them away from public service.
This punishment would have made it hard for Haji Javed Iqbal Abbasi to do well in politics for a long time. The details of the case, like what kind of assets he had too much of, would have been important in deciding how serious his punishment was going to be.
9- Nehal Hashmi
Mr. Hashmi helped the leader of Pakistan, Mr. Nawaz Sharif, by giving advice on Law, Justice, and Human Rights from 1997 to 1999. Later in 2012, he became the President of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) chapter in Karachi. After that, in August 2014, he became the General Secretary of the PML-N chapter in Sindh. He was re-appointed to the same position in October 2014. In 2015, Mr. Hashmi was elected to the Senate of Pakistan from Punjab, representing PML-N.
But in May 2017, his membership in PML-N got suspended, and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif asked him to quit the Senate because he didn’t follow the party’s rules. Mr. Hashmi said he would resign, but in June 2017, he changed his mind after talking to the Senate chairman.
On February 1, 2018, the Supreme Court of Pakistan found Mr. Hashmi guilty in a contempt of court case. He was given a one-month prison sentence and couldn’t hold a public office for the next five years. On the same day, he stopped being a Senate member and got arrested. However, he was released from jail on February 28, 2018.
8- Anjum Aqeel Khan
Anjum Aqeel Khan, in February 2011, admitted to doing something wrong regarding land dealings. He told the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) that, as the real estate broker for the National Police Foundation, he caused them to lose a lot of money, around six billion rupees, in a land fraud.
To make up for the trouble he caused, Khan agreed to give back 5.8 billion rupees. Even though he was arrested in July 2011, he was let go shortly afterward.
In November 2011, Khan got into more trouble for taking over a piece of land in Islamabad without permission. The police took action, and he was arrested. However, he got bail in March 2012.
In 2016, people criticized the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for not stopping Khan’s possibly illegal real estate activities. The NAB is an organization that looks into corruption in Pakistan.
In 2019, Khan was found not guilty in a corruption case related to the National Police Foundation. All these problems and accusations suggest that Khan might have a history of doing things that are not right in his real estate dealings. The fact that he admitted to causing money loss to the National Police Foundation and had to face legal troubles like arrests and prosecution shows that he has had a difficult past. The criticism of the National Accountability Bureau in 2016 indicates that some people were worried about how well the country was fighting against corruption.
7- Muhammad Safdar Awan
Safdar started doing politics when he came back to Pakistan in 2007. He joined the Sharif family’s political group. In 2008, he won a special election to become a member of the National Assembly from an area called Constituency NA-52 (Rawalpindi-III). He was part of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) and defeated someone from another party called Pakistan Muslim League (Q).
Then, in 2011, Safdar got a new responsibility. He became the head organizer of the PML-N Youth Wing. However, in 2012, he got into trouble and was suspended from the PML-N because he spoke disrespectfully about some leaders of the party.
Despite this, Safdar got re-elected in 2013 in the general election from another place, Constituency NA-21 (Mansehra-cum-Tor Ghar), as a PML-N candidate. This time, he defeated someone from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F).
In 2016, Imran Khan accused Safdar of hiding assets belonging to Maryam Nawaz, but Safdar denied it. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) called him in for questioning in June 2016.
Even with these issues, Safdar was chosen by PML-N to run in the 2018 general election from Constituency NA-14 (Mansehra-cum-Torghar). But in July 2018, he faced legal trouble. He got a one-year jail term in a corruption case called the Avenfield corruption reference. This was filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), and he was disqualified from contesting elections for 10 years. He surrendered, went to jail, but got released on bail in September 2018.
Then, in October 2020, Safdar got arrested in a hotel in Karachi for allegedly disrespecting Quaid’s mausoleum. He was released on bail the same day.
6- Moavia Azam Tariq
Moavia Azam Tariq became a member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab after winning the 2018 election. He represented the Pakistan Rah-e-Haq Party and won from Constituency PP-126 (Jhang-III). In this election, he received a total of 65,252 votes, defeating an independent candidate named Sheikh Sheraz Akram.
Following his victory, Moavia Azam Tariq joined the Pakistan Rah-e-Haq Party. It’s worth noting that his father, Maulana Azam Tariq, was also a member of the national assembly. Additionally, Moavia Azam Tariq is associated with the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat as a member.
5- Kamran Tessori
In 2008, Kamran Tessori got into trouble for being part of a tricky situation involving land. He was arrested because of a real estate land scam. The issue revolved around an 80-acre piece of land, which even had an old graveyard. It was said that Arbab Ghulam Rahim, who was the Chief Minister of Sindh back then, gave this land to Kamran Tessori. The plan was to use it to create a new place called Gold City.
While being moved from Karachi to Badin by the police, Kamran Tessori managed to escape during a shooting incident. This escape led to another case being filed against him. So, he faced legal problems not just for the land scam but also for running away from the police during the transfer.
4- Usman Buzdar
There were stories going around that the police accused Buzdar and his dad, Sardar Fateh, of being involved in a murder case. They were said to have played a part in the deaths of at least six people during local elections in 1998.
An anti-terrorism court in Dera Ghazi Khan supposedly found Buzdar guilty and decided he was involved in January 2000. Buzdar’s dad supposedly paid Rs 7,500,000 as blood money to the family of the person who died. This was done to settle the murder case through something called a jirga.
But, according to Geo News, they said it was a big mistake. They claimed that the Buzdar being accused of the murders was not the same person as the one we know.
Around 1982, something fishy happened. About 60 acres of state land were supposedly changed in favor of Buzdar’s sons, including Usman Buzdar. This was looked into, and it turned out that the land was given to them in a tricky and illegal way back in 1982 when they were still kids.
The person who complained about it wanted the land to be taken away from them. Later, the court said Buzdar wasn’t guilty in this case.
When Buzdar was in charge as Nazim, people accused him of doing something wrong. They said he made about 300 appointments that weren’t fair. This got reported to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in September 2016.
But, Buzdar’s brother said it wasn’t true. He said NAB couldn’t find any proof against Buzdar, and because of that, they closed the case.
3- Yusuf Raza Gilani
A long time ago, there were some big problems in Pakistan’s government. It all started when the United States went into Pakistan and took down a bad guy named Osama bin Laden. After that, a person named Mansoor Ijaz said he helped the Pakistan government and the US talk to each other. He claimed that Pakistan asked the US for help to stop a military takeover.
This made a lot of people upset, and the government made a group to check what really happened. The tension grew between the government and the military. The Prime Minister, Yousaf Raza Gillani, accused the military of doing things against the rules. This made the military very angry. Gillani then fired a top military person, making things even worse.
Later on, someone said Gillani’s wife got a lot of money from banks, but they didn’t pay it back. This led to a request to remove Gillani from his job. The person who decides said it wasn’t a good enough reason. However, Gillani got into trouble again for not following court rules. He was found guilty but didn’t want to leave his job.
The issue of Gillani’s job continued, and other political parties asked to look at the decision again. The highest court in the country decided on June 19, 2012, that Gillani couldn’t be the Prime Minister anymore. They said it was because of his earlier guilty decision. The Election Commission quickly said Gillani couldn’t be in the government starting from April 26, 2012.
After that, more problems came up for Gillani. In 2015, there was a scandal about a necklace, and he had to give it back. In 2021, his son was said to be giving money for votes in an election. All these issues created a complicated story about problems and not doing the right thing in Pakistan’s government at that time.
2- Pervez Musharraf
Musharraf, who was in charge, told the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to catch two scientists, Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood and Chaudhry Abdul Majeed. They were thought to have links with the Taliban after visiting Afghanistan in 2000.
People said Mahmood had met Osama bin Laden and wanted to make a radiological weapon. Later, it turned out that the scientists didn’t know much about that kind of technology.
Another scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, shared information that caused a big problem.
In 2001, Musharraf praised Khan, but in 2004, he removed Khan from his Science Advisor role.
At first, Musharraf said he didn’t know about the government’s role in nuclear activities, even though Khan said Musharraf was the “Big Boss” of the operation.
A national security hearing was done to check this.
Investigations went wrong, and people started to be against Musharraf.
Political parties formed the ARD movement and used this issue to question Musharraf’s leadership.
Musharraf got criticized for trying to make Khan look bad, hurting his public image and political standing.
The United States’ trust also got damaged.
The ARD movement and political parties used people’s anger, leading to big protests against Musharraf.
Musharraf felt pressure from both inside and outside the country.
In a 2008 interview, Abdul Qadeer Khan blamed Musharraf and later Benazir Bhutto for sharing nuclear technology.
Khan said Musharraf knew about the deals and was the “Big Boss” for those deals.
They talked about sending centrifuges to North Korea in 2000 with the army’s supervision.
After Musharraf stepped down, Abdul Qadeer Khan was released from house arrest.
People wondered if the government allowed Khan’s actions.
This situation worried about the damage to the Armed Forces, which controlled nuclear weapons development.
All these events made Musharraf’s leadership weaker, and he faced challenges from opponents and unhappy people.
1- Maryam Nawaz
Panama Papers Leak (April 3, 2016)
In April 2016, a big secret, called the Panama Papers, came out. It showed that Maryam Nawaz and her brothers, Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz, were involved. They were named in documents that said Maryam owned companies in the British Virgin Islands. They also said she had properties in the United Kingdom with her brothers.
Initial Denials and Statements
When people found out, Maryam said it wasn’t true. She said she didn’t have any companies or properties outside Pakistan. She said she was just helping her brother with his things if he needed it.
Petition by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)
Later, a political group called PTI asked the Supreme Court to take action against the Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, and his family. They said they were part of the Panama Papers problem.
Joint Investigation Team (JIT) Formation
The Supreme Court then said there was a problem and created a team to look into it. This team, called JIT, was supposed to check if the Sharif family’s money and things were okay or not.
JIT Report
The JIT team checked and said the Sharif family had more things and money than they should have. They also found that Maryam used fake papers and a special font called Calibri. This made a big scandal called Fontgate.
Supreme Court Decision (July 28, 2017)
The Supreme Court said Nawaz Sharif couldn’t be in charge anymore because he wasn’t honest. They also told a group called NAB to accuse him and his family of corruption.
NAB References and Indictment (September-October 2017)
NAB then said Nawaz Sharif and his kids, including Maryam, did wrong things. In October, a court said Maryam, Nawaz Sharif, and Maryam’s husband had to answer for having flats in London.
Avenfield Case Verdict (July 6, 2018)
Maryam got in trouble and was told to go to jail for seven years. She also had to pay a lot of money. The court said the papers she showed were fake and changed.
Arrest and Imprisonment (July 13, 2018)
Maryam and her dad were taken to jail in a big move by NAB. They were flown to a special jail in Rawalpindi.
Appeal and Release (September 19, 2018)
Later, another court said they could leave jail for a while. They had to pay some money and promise to be good.
The Case’s Impact
This whole thing had a big effect on politics and the law. Nawaz Sharif couldn’t lead anymore, and Maryam went to jail.