'NAB did not want to arrest Nawaz', IHC on relief given to ex-premier

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) in its detailed verdict issued on Tuesday said that the relief granted to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif was due to the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) refusal to arrest and raise objections to the various appeals filed by the former prime minister.

The court said that the ex-premier's applications against conviction in graft cases were restored due to NAB's "explicit and unambiguous stance" of not objecting to the petitioner's plea.

The IHC had approved a two-day protective bail of the former prime minister in Al-Azizia and Avenfield references on October 19 and followed it up with its October 26 verdict restoring Nawaz's appeals against conviction by accountability courts in the two cases and further granting him bail in the said cases.

"Since the learned prosecutor general, NAB did not oppose the applications for the restoration/resurrection of the appeals, the applications are allowed and the appeals are restored with all legal consequences," read the order by IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb.

"These applications were allowed and the appeals were resurrected. They are to be heard and decided by this Court on merits," the court added.

Separately, the same divisional bench also issued a 16-page verdict on the issue of approving the two-day protective bail of the former prime minister in the said cases.

"The operation of the interim relief given to the petitioner was extended for two days [...] It ought to be borne in mind that these orders were passed after a clear, unequivocal and emphatic position was taken on behalf of NAB that such protection be afforded to the petitioner [Nawaz Sharif]."

"The Prosecutor General, NAB was equally clear, unequivocal, and emphatic in his submission [...] that NAB has no intention to arrest the petitioner [Nawaz Sharif]," read the detailed verdict.

Nawaz — who left for London in November 2019 for medical treatment following the Lahore High Court's approval — returned to Pakistan on October 21 after a four-year self-imposed exile and has since managed to get notable relief on various legal fronts including Avenfield, Al-Azizia, and Toshakhana cases.

Apart from the restoration of his appeals by the IHC, the Punjab government also suspended the PML-N supremo's conviction in the Al-Azizia reference.

Previously, Nawaz also had his arrest warrant suspended by an accountability court in the Toshakhana case after the NAB prosecutor didn't raise any objections to the former prime minister's plea against his arrest warrants in the said case.

Political opponents most notably Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have criticised the allegedly "undue relief" given to the PML-N supremo.

It is to be noted that the ousted prime minister was handed down a 10-year jail sentence in the Avenfield properties corruption reference for owning assets beyond known income in July 2018 and a year for not cooperating with the anit-graft watchdog — both of the sentences were to be served concurrently.

In the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference, Nawaz was sentenced to seven years in jail on December 24, 2018, and then taken to Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail from where he was shifted to Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail the next day.

He was released from jail in March 2019 and travelled to London for medical treatment in November 2019 after permission from the Lahore High Court. Later, the IHC declared him a proclaimed offender in both cases in December 2020.