ISLAMABAD: In a major relief, Islamabad High Court (IHC) Thursday stopped the authorities from arresting Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif on return from abroad, in Al-Azizia and Avenfield references.
A day earlier, Nawaz Sharif had filed petitions, seeking protective bails in the two cases as he plans to return from London on October 21. The court cancelled Thursday’s cause list which also included cases relating to PTI Chairman Imran Khan and the IHC only heard Nawaz Sharif’s pleas for protective bail.
Yesterday, the IHC had adjourned the hearing of the petitions filed by Nawaz Sharif, seeking protective bails in the two cases until today.
The two-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the pleas.
The IHC division bench took up the petitions hours after they were filed by Nawaz’s lawyers. Soon after the pleas were submitted, the court allotted numbers to them as the registrar did not raise any objection.
The PML-N supremo was convicted in the Al-Azizia and the Avenfield corruption references by an accountability court on 6 July 2018 and was awarded 10-year imprisonment. In October 2019, the IHC had granted him bail on humanitarian grounds and he went to London for medical treatment there.
However, after failing to return to Pakistan and as his bail expired, the IHC declared him a proclaimed offender and absconder. He was currently facing non-bailable arrest warrants in the Al-Azizia and Avenfield corruption cases as well as the Toshakhana gifts case.
