The caretaker Punjab government has reportedly employed Section 401 of the Criminal Procedure Code to suspend the sentence of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Azizia reference.
Section 401 grants the government the authority to suspend a convict’s sentence.
The action was taken before when Nawaz Sharif went to London for medical treatment in 2019.
Caretaker Punjab Information Minister Amir Mir explained that the government has used its constitutional authority to suspend Nawaz Sharif’s sentence, but it cannot completely end it. In December 2018, an accountability court had sentenced Nawaz Sharif to seven years in jail in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption case, but he was acquitted in the Flagship Investments reference.
