Daily Times

An Islamabad High Court (IHC) bench on Thursday disposed of a petition filed by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif challenging his non-bailable arrest warrants issued by an accountability court in the Toshakhana reference.

The IHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aamer Farooq took up the petition. The court dismissed the constitutional petition through which Nawaz Sharif sought withdrawal of non-bailable arrest warrants issued against him in the Toshakhana case when his counsel Barrister Jahangir Khan Jadoon sought permission to withdraw it.

The former prime minister had also sought the IHC’s permission to join proceedings in the accountability court through a pleader. The accountability court, hearing the case on Aug 17, had allowed him to appear in court through his representative.

At the previous hearing, the bench had inquired about the status of the bail granted to the PML-N supremo in the Al-Azizia reference. It had noted that the removal of Nawaz Sharif’s name from the exit control list (ECL) was not ordered by the court, but the government.

Nawaz Sharif, who is currently in London, had moved the petition through Barrister Jahangir Khan Jadoon, citing NAB chairman, judge of the accountability court-III and the investigation officer in the Toshakhana reference as respondents. The petitioner stated that the IHC granted him bail on October 9, 2019, on medical grounds yet the accountability court initiated the process of declaring him a proclaimed offender under Section 87 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

The former prime minister said he went to the UK on November 19, 2019, for medical treatment with the approval of the government. Nevertheless, non-bailable arrest warrants were issued in the case, depriving him of his constitutional and fundamental rights as he didn’t conceal himself from any process of the law, he added.