Junaid, Zakaria cleared by police for acting in ‘self defence’ in brawl

LONDON: Scotland Yard has decided to not take action against Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s son Junaid Safdar and Hussain Nawaz’s son Zakaria Sharif for being involved in a fight outside Avenfield flats which saw one man being taken to hospital for minor injuries.

Junaid Safdar and Zakaria Sharif were arrested on the evening of July 12, 2018 – moments after Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz left from Harley Street Clinic for Heathrow airport to return to Pakistan to go to jail after conviction by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Court. Junaid and Zakaria were met by a group of violent protestors as they approached the back entrance of their apartment from the Park Lane side. They were returning home after sending off Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz to the airport.

Several protests were held outside the flats by activists of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) during which the protestors said they were assembling to take possession of the Avenfield flats.

The footage saw one of the protestors wearing knuckles and attacking the duo with an umbrella and then throwing a shopping trolley on them. The footage saw them retaliating to the attack and as a result one of the attackers fell on the floor during scuffle.

Speaking to The News/Geo, a spokesman of Scotland Yard said on Tuesday that the police were called at approximately “18:45hrs on Thursday, 12 July to reports of a fight on Park Lane, SW1.

The police said that “officers attended” and “one person was taken to a central London hospital for treatment to minor injuries. Two men aged 20 and 23 were arrested on suspicion of assault. They were taken to a central London police station for questioning. They were subsequently released with no further action”.

A source familiar with the case said that the police probed the case and found that both of them acted in self defence. The police confirmed that both Junaid and Zakaria had been informed that “no further action” would be taken.

It is understood that Junaid and Zakaria produced CCTV footage and social media posts in which protesters were urged to protest outside Avenfield flats and some of the posts justified violence too.