ISLAMABAD: On Thursday, Supremo of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Nawaz Sharif secured a protective bail till October 24 from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in the Avenfield & Al-Azizia cases. Earlier, an accountability court suspended his perpetual non-bailable arrest warrants in the Toshakhana gifts case as Nawaz Sharif is all set to return back to Pakistan on October 21 to end a self-imposed exile of almost four years.
According to details, the trial court restrained the authorities from arresting Nawaz at the airport by suspending the arrest warrant till October 24. The accountability court convicted Nawaz in the Al-Azizia and the Avenfield corruption references on July 6, 2018, and sentenced him to 10 years imprisonment. However, the IHC granted him bail on humanitarian grounds in October 2019, after which he left for London to avail medical treatment. But later the IHC declared him a proclaimed offender and absconder because his bail expired as he failed to return to Pakistan.
Prior to today’s decisions, Nawaz was facing non-bailable arrest warrants in the Avenfield & Al-Azizia cases and the Toshakhana gifts case before IHC granted a protective bail.
The plea was heard by IHC divisional bench – led by Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb. Azam Nazir Tarar, lawyer of Nawaz Sharif, told the bench that the accountability court suspended perpetual arrest warrants. National Accountability Bureau (NAB) raised no objection to protective bail and said that Nawaz should appear before the court. The court instructed NAB lawyer to submit the statement in writing.
The NAB prosecutor added that NAB has no objections to Nawaz returning to the country. The court has also directed Nawaz to appear before the court on October 24, 2023. Qazi Misbah, the counsel of PML-N supremo, has already told the court that the PMN-L chief wishes to appear before the court on his return to Pakistan on October 21, 2023.