Daily Times

Former prime minister (PM), Nawaz Sharif, on Friday, filed a petition in the Supreme Court (SC) against the rejection of his bail by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) Al-Azizia corruption reference.

The petition sought a review of the IHC verdict, which was requested to be annulled, and claimed that Nawaz suffered from complicated diseases, due to which, doctors had recommended him to undergo angiography.

Earlier, a two-member bench of the IHC, comprising of Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, had disposed of the bail petition filed on medical grounds in Al-Azizia reference case. Its nine-page judgment mentioned, “where a prisoner is receiving medical treatment in hospital or in jail, he would not be entitled to the concession of bail; the petitioner has been hospitalized time and again since January 2019, whenever he made complaints about his indisposition.”

It further added that the reports of the Board of Doctors and various constituted teams indicated that petitioner was receiving the best possible medical treatment available to any individual in Pakistan.

Ex-pm claims to suffer from complicated diseases

The referred fact could not be regarded as an extraordinary situation or case of extreme hardship, the bench asserted.

The judgement claimed that almost all ailments had a potential of being detrimental to one’s life, but not if they were properly treated and taken care of, therefore, being indisposed per se could not form the basis to be released on bail.

It read, “Finally, we find that objection taken by learned counsel for the respondents regarding maintainability of instant petition, is of no substance.

The court said that Sharif’s medical condition had deteriorated around January 15, after which the instant writ petition had been filed.

“The case law cited by learned counsel for National Accountability Bureau is not attracted in the facts and circumstances of instant case,” the judgement maintained.

The accountability court had convicted Sharif in the Al-Azizia reference on December 24, sentencing him to seven years in prison while acquitting him in the Flagship reference.

Earlier, the NAB had filed three corruption references, Avenfield; Al-Azizia Steel Mills and Hill Metal Establishment; and offshore companies, including Flagship Investment Limited, against the Sharifs, as directed by the SC in its July 2017 Panamagate verdict.

Published in Daily Times, Mach 2^nd 2019.