Daughter of Ex-Prime Minister Is Arrested in Pakistan Graft Inquiry
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The authorities in Pakistan arrested a leading opposition figure on Thursday in a money-laundering inquiry, the latest in a string of arrests of opposition politicians as the government widens the dragnet in what it calls an anticorruption campaign.
The arrest of the politician, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, was swiftly denounced by members of her party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, and other opposition lawmakers as a political vendetta.
Her detention spurred a walkout by opposition legislators in the Pakistani Parliament. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the leader of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party, accused Prime Minister Imran Khan of following in the steps of the country’s past military dictators. “An opposition politician, a woman, has been arrested without any conviction,” he said. “History will remember this.”
Shahbaz Sharif, the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Ms. Sharif’s uncle, said, “The government is blinded by political revenge.”
Ms. Sharif was arrested while visiting her father, the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, at a jail in the city of Lahore, where he is serving a sentence for corruption. She had already been scheduled to appear before the anticorruption authorities on Thursday in relation to her family’s ownership of a sugar mill. Officials said she was arrested in connection with that case, but did not provide further details.
The Sharif family, which dominated the country’s politics for decades, has faced several corruption inquiries since the Supreme Court disqualified Mr. Sharif from office in July 2017. Its members have all denied wrongdoing, insisting that the charges are politically motivated and pushed by the country’s influential military, with whom Mr. Sharif often clashed.
Politicians in Pakistan are regularly accused of stealing or misusing public funds. Mr. Khan has repeatedly vowed to stamp out corrupt practices and arrest anyone involved, but many critics say he has used the anticorruption campaign to silence criticism of his handling of Pakistan’s economic troubles and foreign policy.
Mr. Zardari, the lawmaker who led the walkout in Parliament, said on Thursday that the arrest of Ms. Sharif was a divisive step at a time when the country’s political class needed to show unity over India’s move to eliminate the autonomy of the disputed region of Kashmir.
“While we are condemning Modi,” he said, referring to the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, “it is unfortunate that our prime minister cannot control his ego and arrogance. He is doing a politics of revenge.”
Several top leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz have been arrested in recent weeks on charges of corruption and graft. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, who succeeded Mr. Sharif as prime minister, was arrested last month, and Miftah Ismail, a former finance minister, was arrested on Wednesday in Karachi.
Ms. Sharif is a vociferous critic of Mr. Khan and the powerful military. In recent years, she has styled herself as a defender of civilian supremacy, and she has accused the military of interfering in the country’s politics and judiciary. The military denies having any such role.
Her no-holds-barred Twitter feed particularly rankles her opponents, and some critics suggest her labeling of Mr. Khan as a stooge of the military was one reason for her arrest.
In recent weeks, Ms. Sharif has held several political rallies in Punjab Province that drew substantial crowds. But the authorities have banned coverage of her rallies on local news networks.
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