ISLAMABAD: The Isla­m­abad High Court decided on Tuesday to conduct regular hearing of the app­eals, filed by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, against his conviction in two corruption references.

An IHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurang­zeb had, on October 24, revived Mr Sharif’s app­eals in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia references.

Justice Farooq noted that since the hearing may continue for a longer per­i­od, other routine cases would not be fixed before the division bench whenever the appeals are taken up.

The ex-premier was convicted in the references by two different accountability courts of Islamabad in 2018. He went abroad while his appeals were pending before the courts.

The IHC had declared him proclaimed offender. However, his proclamation order was withdrawn following his surrender last month.

During the course of hearing on Tuesday, the IHC chief justice asked the defence counsel how many hours he would require to complete his arguments on the appeal.

Amjad Pervaiz, the counsel for the ex-premier, replied that it would require safely four to six hours. He said he had highlighted the selected portion of the judgement and the record for perusal of the case.

According to him, the IHC division bench, which acquitted Maryam Nawaz and her husband, retired Capt Safdar, in the Avenfield apartments reference, had already made a tentative assessment of Nawaz Sharif’s role and found nothing against him.

Justice Farooq recalled that he was in the bench that acquitted Maryam Nawaz, while Justice Aurangzeb was a member of the bench that suspended Nawaz Sharif’s sentence. Justice Aurangzeb, however, remarked that the Al-Azizia case was never heard by any of the IHC benches.

The court later adjourned the hearing till Nov 27.

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2023