Nawaz Sharif: State TV Gagged, PML-N Workers Detained as Pakistan Braces for Former PM's Return

New Delhi: As Nawaz Sharif is set to return to Pakistan on Friday, the country’s state television PTV has imposed a ban on the coverage of the former prime minister and his homecoming rally.

PTV is barred from airing Sharif’s political activities on the grounds that no convicted person is to be shown or talked about on any PTV channel or programme.

“Please note that no convicted person is to be shown or talked about on any PTV channel/programme, whether in paid advertisements, news or current affairs talk shows,” reads the official order issued by the PTV news controller. It adds that the order is “issued with the approval of the competent authority”.

The embattled former prime minister is set to return to Pakistan from London with his daughter Maryam after being sentenced in a corruption case last week.

The PML-N supremo and his daughter had said they would surrender to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on their return to the country following the Avenfield verdict.

Ahead of his arrival, over 300 PML-N workers and leaders have been detained in Pakistan in a massive crackdown on the party activists in Lahore. Nawaz Sharif, who would be arrested along with his daughter will be transported to jail via a helicopter.

Last Friday, in a landmark verdict, the accountability court hearing the Avenfield case sentenced Sharif to imprisonment for 10 years and Maryam to seven years.

The Avenfield case was among the three corruption cases filed against the former premier and his children by the NAB on the Supreme Court's orders in the Panama Papers case.

On Wednesday, Sharif had criticised the election commission’s decision to deploy soldiers inside polling stations, saying his party would oppose the efforts being made to “engineer” the outcome of the July 25 general elections.

The 68-year-old said, “The nation will not accept these things; the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz won't accept these things at any cost.”

Sharif, who was disqualified by the Supreme Court last year in the Panama Papers case, is now the supremo of the PML-N.