ISLAMABAD: As former prime minister Nawaz Sharif sought Islamabad High Court’s permission to join proceedings in the accountability court through a pleader, the IHC while taking up his plea on Monday scrutinised the bail granted to him in the Al-Azizia reference.

The IHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aamer Farooq took up the petition seeking withdrawal of non-bailable warrants issued against Mr Sharif by the accountability court in the Toshakhana case.

During the initial hearing, the court inquired from the counsel for Mr Sharif, Barrister Jahangir Khan Jadoon, about the status of the bail granted to his client in the Al-Azizia reference.

While granting bail to him on Oct 30, 2019 in the reference, a division bench of the IHC had declared that “until the decision of the provincial government on the application [for the extension of bail], he [Mr Sharif] shall continue to remain on bail”. However, according to the order, “if petitioner [Nawaz Sharif] does not approach the provincial government within the period mentioned herein above, this order shall cease to have effect on lapse of period of eight weeks and the bail granted shall stand revoked/cancelled.”

Accountability court defers process to declare ex-premier a proclaimed offender

At the hearing on Monday, the IHC bench noted that the sentence was “suspended for a specified period based on the report of a medical board, constituted by the government of Punjab”. The latter could have extended the suspension of sentence if satisfied that the medical condition of the petitioner warranted so, it observed.

It was further noted that the removal of Mr Sharif’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL) was not ordered by the court, but the government.

In reply to the court’s query, Mr Jadoon informed the IHC bench that the name of the petitioner [Mr Sharif] was removed from the ECL pursuant to the decision taken by the federal cabinet. But neither the federal government nor the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) informed the court regarding the fate of the suspended sentence and that the petitioner’s name was being removed from the ECL.

The petitioner, too, had not informed the court nor had sought permission before proceeding abroad, the court observed.

In case the suspended sentence on medical ground was not extended by the Punjab government, then in such an eventuality the petitioner was required to surrender himself before the court or to have challenged the executive order before the competent court vested with territorial jurisdiction, the division bench stated, adding that “in order to claim relief the petitioner has to satisfy us that he has invoked the constitutional jurisdiction with clean hands”.

Toshakhana reference

Meanwhile, the accountability court of Islamabad stopped the process of declaring the supreme leader of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz as proclaimed offender in Toshakahana reference after Barrister Jadoon pointed out that a petition challenging the non-bailable arrest warrants against the ex-premier was pending before the IHC.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2020