My family migrated from India for its love for Pakistan: Sharif tells court

Lahore: Deposed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday told a court here that he is not a traitor as his family migrated from India for its love for Pakistan.

The Lahore High Court on Monday held the hearing on a petition seeking action against 67-year-old Sharif under treason charges for claiming that those involved in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack belonged to Pakistan.

Another former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Dawn's journalist Cyril Almeida, who are the other respondents in the case, also filed their reply in the court.

Some 166 people were killed in the attack carried out by 10 Pakistan-based LeT terrorists. Nine of the attackers were killed by police while lone survivor Ajmal Kasab was caught and hanged after handed down death sentence.

In his reply filed in the court, Sharif said: "How come a man who has made this country's an atomic power can be a traitor. A person's party that is given more votes than any other party in this month's by-polls can be a traitor. I represent millions of Pakistanis can they be traitors."

He further said his family had migrated from India for its love for Pakistan.

"Me and my family love every inch of this land (Pakistan)," Sharif said and dismissed allegations that he had committed any treason.

Sharif's father Mian Muhammad Sharif had lived in Jati Umra in Punjab's Tarn Taran district before migrating to Lahore in 1947. In his reply, Abbasi denied that he had shared the minutes of the National Security Council meeting about the participants on his (Sharif) statement on the Mumbai terror attack.