Daily Times

Proceedings to declare former prime minister Nawaz Sharif an absconder in the Toshakhana reference were postponed on Tuesday owing to non-availability of the accountability court judge.

AC judge Sayed Asghar Ali was unavailable due to being on summer holidays. The proceedings to declare Nawaz an absconder will now be held with the main case on September 9.

On August 20, Nawaz had withdrawn his petition from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) challenging the accountability court’s proceedings against him in the Toshakhana reference. A two-member bench comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Amir Farooq had approved the PML-N supreme leader’s request to withdraw his plea and dismissed the petition.

Nawaz had filed the plea to challenge the accountability court’s decision to issue a non-bailable arrest warrant against him, and declare him a proclaimed offender. The IHC was asked to declare the accountability court’s summons to the former prime minister null and void. However, Barrister Jahangir Jadoon, Nawaz’s lawyer, informed the court that his client had decided to withdraw the petition. The court accepted the request and disposed of the petition.

On August 22, the IHC had fixed the hearing for an appeal filed against Nawaz’s conviction in Al-Azizia reference for September 1. Meanwhile, the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) appeal against the former prime minister’s sentence extension and acquittal in the Flagship Investment reference had also been fixed for hearing. The court would conduct the final hearing in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference on September 18.