Pak court grants bail to Maryam Nawaz in money laundering case

A Pakistani court on Monday granted bail to Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, in a money laundering case.

A two-member bench of the Lahore High Court headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi granted Maryam bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case of money laundering. The court had reserved the verdict in the case on October 31.

Maryam had filed her bail application in the case on "merits and humanitarian grounds". She had pleaded that she wanted to look after her father whose condition is "critical".

All three of siblings -- Hussain, Hasan and Asma -- have been in London. Sharif's both sons have been declared proclaimed offenders by the Pakistani accountability court in corruption cases.

"The court has granted Maryam bail on merit and not on humanitarian grounds," a LHC official told PTI.

The official said the court granted her bail after listening arguments from both sides. He said the court also observed that she is a woman and could not be put behind the bars