SC takes up Nawaz bail plea against IHC verdict today

ISLAMABAD: The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, will take up today (Tuesday) a petition filed by former Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif against the Islamabad High Court’s verdict dismissing his bail application in Al-Azizia corruption reference.

The three member bench, headed by the chief justice, will hear the civil petition of Mian Nawaz Sharif against the verdict of Islamabad High Court dismissing his bail application.

An Islamabad High Court bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani on February 25 had dismissed Nawaz’s petition seeking bail and suspension of his seven-year sentence on medical grounds.

Nawaz was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined Rs1.5 billion and $25 million in the Al-Azizia corruption reference, in a verdict by an accountability court on December 24, 2018. Mian Nawaz Sharif, however, on March 1, 2019, had filed a petition in the Supreme Court praying to set aside the judgement of Islamabad High Court (IHC) rejecting his bail plea in Al-Azizia corruption reference. In order to maintain proper court decorum and smooth functioning of the apex court, the administration of the Supreme Court has made special security measures to beef up the security on its premises for today (Tuesday), the 19th March, 2019. In view of the limited seating capacity in the Court Room No1, the entry will be regulated through special security passes to be issued by SP (Security) Supreme Court of Pakistan, Islamabad.

Only the petitioners/respondents whose cases are fixed in the court will be allowed to enter the Supreme Court premises. However, advocates and journalists who regularly come for Supreme Court proceedings will be exempted from passes.

Similarly, with regard to general public who want to witness the proceedings of the case on 19.03.2019 in Court Room No1 may also contact SP (Security) Supreme Court Building for security passes. Entry into Court building will be allowed after checking/frisking and searching of bags/purses etc. No cell phone is allowed to be carried inside the courtroom.

We expect all concerned to follow the instructions and cooperate with the security staff on duty on the court premises. The security personnel have also been directed to deal with the visitors with utmost courtesy, says a press release issued here on Monday by the apex court. In his petition, the former prime minister had contended that the IHC division bench had totally misconstrued and thereby misapplied the principles laid down by this august court in the cases relied upon by it while rejecting his prayer for suspension of sentence.

He had submitted that the order passed by the IHC division bench is allegedly in utter derogation of the principles governing grant of bail/suspension of sentence laid down by this august court in the judgements cited before the division bench.

Similarly, the former prime minister had contended that the learned division bench committed a jurisdictional error in misreading the record and thereby basing its judgement on an erroneous assumption that he was receiving best possible medical treatment in hospital, while the fact is that as per the medical reports submitted in the case, his treatment had not yet been started rather these reports can only pertain to the diagnosis showing that he is suffering from various ailments which collectively constitute a risk of stroke, an alarming degree of threat of irreversible damage to his heart, potential threat to further deterioration of his 3rd stage chronic kidney disease, and aggravation of his T2 Diabetes Millitus and Hypertension.