Daily Times

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday granted interim bail to former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz stalwart, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and former secretary petroleum Arshad Mirza in an illegal appointment case. Abbasi and Mirza had filed plea in the SHC, seeking interim bail in the illegal appointment after the NAB court Karachi summoned both on June 9. Khaqan in his plea stated that reference filed against him is baseless and he wants to appear before the NAB court, but fears arrests. The former prime minister appealed the SHC to grant him bail before arrest so that he can appear before the court to fight the reference against him. Later, the court granted interim bail to both the accused in the reference and directed them to submit surety bonds of Rs0.5mn each. The anti-graft watchdog had filed reference against PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the illegal appointment of Imran-ul-Haq as PSO managing director in a Karachi accountability court.