November 12, 2002	Tuesday	Ramazan 6, 1423

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LAHORE, Nov 11: A division bench of Lahore High Court, comprising Justice Tassaduq Husain Jilani and Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, on Monday accepted bail application of the acting president of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Makhdum Javed Hashmi, and allowed his release against a bond of Rs500,000 with two sureties.

The judges overruled the objection of the National Accountability Bureau prosecutor, Javed Shaukat Malik, that the court could not accept the bail under Article 199 of the Constitution and accepted the plea of the defence counsel, Akram Sheikh, that it was Hashmi’s legal right. The defence counsel argued that continued detention of the PML-N leader, who was and MNA-elect, would deprive the people of his constituency of representation in the National Assembly .

The defence counsel contended that Javed Hashmi was entitled to bail as nothing had been proved against him during the trial, which had been in progress for over one year. He submitted that continuation of Hashmi’s detention would be a violation of Article 199, under which the people of his constituency had the right to be represented in the National Assembly.

Hashmi was arrested by NAB last year in a reference pertaining to acquisition of illegal assets worth Rs23.8 million during his tenure as health minister in the cabinet of former prime minister Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif.