Accountability Court judge Mohammad Bashir had on July 6, 2018 — 19 days before the general elections — convicted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and her husband retired Captain Mohammad Safdar in the Avenfield Apartment reference and handed them jail terms of 10, seven and one years, respectively, for owning assets beyond known sources of income.

They had filed appeals in the IHC against the conviction. The court had on Sep 18 the same year suspended their sentences and released them on bail.

NAB is now seeking expeditious disposal of the appeals in 30 days.

In her petition, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, which she filed through Advocate Irfan Qadir, Maryam said the entire proceedings that resulted in her conviction were a “classic example of outright violations of law and political engineering hitherto unheard of in the history of Pakistan”.

She also attached a reference to the speech made by former IHC judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui at the District Bar Association, Rawalpindi on July 21, 2018, wherein he had claimed that the country’s top intelligence agency was involved in manipulating judicial proceedings.

“The ISI officials had approached the chief justice asking him to make sure Nawaz and his daughter should not be bailed before the elections,” reads the petition, quoting an excerpt from ex-judge Siddiqui’s speech.

In a tweet later, Maryam said the media “for reasons known to everyone” had not highlighted the core subject of her petition submitted to the IHC. “The summary of which is that the case/verdict against me was pre-planned, orchestrated and influenced by Gen Faiz Hameed, the then DG [counter-intelligence],” she wrote, referring to the current Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief.

She said the same had been “revealed” by Justice Siddiqui, “who has exposed the manner in which law, principles of justice & fair-play were not only violated but made a mockery of, making this case a classic example of how political victimisation in Pakistan is carried out at the cost of judiciary, constitution & law”.

The manner in which the case unfolded “also makes evident how individuals [such] as Gen Faiz Hameed not only violate the sanctity of their oath but also in doing that bring a bad name to the revered institution of The Armed Forces that resultantly has to bear the brunt of personal ambitions”, the PML-N leader alleged.