IHC stops Nawaz Sharif’s arrest on return to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday granted protective bail to PML-N supremo and former Prime Minister, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, and has stopped authorities from arresting him on his return to Pakistan.

IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb granted the protective bail on Thursday in the Al-Azizia and Avenfield references.

The Court accpeted the plea for protective bail of Nawaz Sharif and ordered the relevant authorities not to arrest him upon his return on October 21. The court has granted protective bail until October 24.

Upon the expiry of the bail, the court ordered that the accused be presented before it.

BACKGROUND

On Wednesday Nawaz Sharif had filed petitions, seeking protective bails in Al-Azizia and Avenfield references just a few days ahead of his return from London to Lahore on October 21.

The court has cancelled today’s cause list which also included cases relating to PTI Chairman Imran Khan. The IHC will only hear 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 Al-Azizia and Avenfield cases until today.

Issuing a notice to the NAB while hearing the petitions, the two-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, put off the hearing.

The IHC division bench addressed the bail petitions filed by Nawaz’s lawyers and shortly after, assigned numbers to them since the registrar raised no objections.

An accountability court convicted Nawaz in the Al-Azizia and the Avenfield corruption references on July 6, 2018, and awarded him a 10-year imprisonment sentence.

In October 2019, the IHC had granted him bail on humanitarian grounds and he went to London for medical treatment.

However, after failing to return to Pakistan and as his bail expired, the IHC declared him a proclaimed offender and absconder. Non-bailable arrest warrants currently faced him in the Al-Azizia and Avenfield corruption cases, as well as the Toshakhana gifts case.

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“Nawaz Sharif is making a return to Pakistan on October 21 and will head to Lahore after legal consultation in Islamabad,” according to party leader Atta Tarar. Who informed that the rally in Lahore will take place at its scheduled time.

Exclusive aircraft booked for Nawaz Sharif’s homecoming on Oct 21