Islamabad (Web Desk): The Islamabad (IHC) extended Nawaz's bail pleas in the Al-Azizia and Avenfield references till October 26 (Thursday), after issuing notice to the National
Accountability Bureau (NAB) over the pleas seeking restoration of appeals in the graft cases.
A division bench of the IHC comprising Chief Justice (CJ) Aamer Farooq and Justice Gul Hassan Aurangzeb had taken up the petitions seeking restoration of appeals against the accountability courts' verdicts in the graft cases.
On October 19, the IHC granted protective bail to the former prime minister till October 24 (today) who returned to Pakistan after four-years-long self-imposed exile on October 21.
At the outset of the hearing, PML-N’s lawyer Azam Nazir Tarar said the accountability court had suspended Nawaz’s warrants in the Toshakhana case and approved his bail against surety bonds.
Justice Farooq said there were two petitions in front of the high court, both of which were related to restoring appeals against Nawaz’s conviction. “We have to issue notices on these applications,” the judge added.
Justice Aurangzeb said that for the restoration of the appeals, the petitioner had to explain why he remained absent from the court.
At that, Tarar said: “We just want to move as per the law and you are an expert at that.”
However, Justice Farooq maintained that keeping Article 10-A (right to a fair trial) of the Constitution aside, the petitioner had to provide an explanation for his absences from the court.
"You will have to prove that your absences were not deliberate and based on ill intention," Justice Farooq added.
The PM L-N lawyer said that the Lahore High Court (LHC) had granted Nawaz permission to leave the country over medical reasons.
"You have made a mistake here," Justice Farooq pointed out, asking that if matters were pending in one high court, could another high court allow that.
Justice Aurangzeb also questioned the law a court had to follow when petitions had been filed for restoration of appeals.
"This is not a matter of routine, this is a matter of show cause," the IHC CJ remarked, adding that the court would issue notices to the opposing side. “It is necessary for the court to be satisfied by your reasons," he said.
At one point, Tarar requested the court to extend Nawaz Shari’s protective bail so that they could prepare for further arguments to which Justice Farooq asked the prosecutor general of NAB to give his opinion on the matter.
In his response, the NAB official said the bureau had read the petition for restoration of appeal and did not have any objections to it. He further said that they had no objections to the extension in the protective bail.
"Is this the same NAB?” Justice Aurangzeb asked here. “I am hearing these cases after five years and am trying to understand if this is the same NAB,” he said.
"Is the NAB saying that charges of corrupt practices should remain, but the convict should be released?” the judge further asked. “Let’s ask the NAB chairman why he is wasting public time.”
Justice Aurangzeb also asked: “If NAB has no objections, why doesn’t it take back the case?”
He then asked the bureau’s prosecutor general to take a “definitive position” and instructed him to communicate NAB’s clear position on the matter at the next hearing.
The court subsequently issued notices to the NAB on Nawaz’s pleas for restoration of the appeals against his conviction and bail. It also extended the protective bail of the former premier till October 26 (Thursday).
Earlier today, an accountability court in Islamabad confirmed bail of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo and former premier Nawaz Sharif's bail in Toshakhana case.
Meanwhile, the caretaker Punjab government on Tuesday suspended the sentence handed to Nawaz Sharif in the Al-Aziza graft reference.
Nawaz Sharif was convicted in the Al-Azizia Mills and Avenfield corruption cases in 2018.
He was handed 10 years in jail in the Avenfield properties corruption reference for owning assets beyond known income and one year for not cooperating with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which were to be served concurrently.
The PML-N supremo served a seven-year imprisonment at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail in the Al-Azizia Mills case before he was allowed to go to London in November 2019 on “medical grounds.”
In February 2020, the then PTI-led government had declared Nawaz Sharif an absconder, and later in the same year, an accountability court had declared him a proclaimed offender in the Toshakhana vehicles reference.