Daily Times

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s exit from Pakistan is a ‘mockery of the system’, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) bench said on Wednesday.

During hearing of three miscellaneous applications filed by the PML-N supremo seeking to forgo the requirement of his surrender, pursuing the appeal through a legal representative and exemption from court appearance, the Court said that it needs to be determined if former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who has been staying in the United Kingdom since November 2019 on medical grounds, is evading court proceedings on purpose.

A two-member bench, comprising Justices Aamir Farooq and Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, passed the remarks after Additional Attorney General Tariq Khokhar presented a compliance report on Nawaz Sharif’s arrest warrants issued by the high court in the Avenfield apartments case.

Khokhar, while briefing the court on the attempts made to arrest Nawaz Sharif, said that Rao Abdul Hanan, an officer of the Pakistani High Commission, had visited the residence of the PML-N chief in London. He added that Eddie, the person at the apartment, ‘refused’ to receive the arrest warrant. “Every effort was made to enforce Nawaz Sharif’s arrest warrant,” the government’s lawyer told the court. He also read Hanan’s statements regarding the arrest warrant.

After Khokhar’s explanation, Additional Prosecutor General of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Jahanzaib Bharwana informed the court that they were aware of the attempts made to arrest Nawaz Sharif.

Khokhar then told the court that the Pakistani mission in London also contacted the Commonwealth Office via telephone over the warrant. He added that the Commonwealth Office informed them that it was not in their jurisdiction to implement the IHC’s order.

“This means that they [commonwealth office] are not ready to assist us,” observed the court, adding that the court has to be satisfied with evidence that it did its best to comply with the warrants. “The purpose of all this exercise is so that when the accused comes tomorrow he does not say that he did not know [about the warrants],” remarked Justice Kayani, adding that the accused knew that he had defeated the system to leave the country. “He [Nawaz Sharif] must be sitting there laughing at Pakistan’s system. It’s a shame,” observed Justice Kayani, adding that the court will issue a verdict on the matter.

The IHC had issued the arrest warrants on September 15 after which the assistant registrar had, in a letter, directed the foreign secretary to ensure Nawaz’s production before the court on September 22. After the high court issued the arrest warrants, the PML-N had announced that it honoured the court’s decisions, but the supreme leader of the party would return once his health permitted him.

In Wednesday’s proceedings, no one appeared on Nawaz’s behalf as his lead counsel Khawaja Haris last week gave up representing his client after IHC rejected his application for deferring the issuance of the former prime minister’s proclamation.

The court also observed that the federal government should also take care “from now on” who it can allow to leave the country. It also remarked that the time spent on delivering an arrest warrant to an accused could have been spent on providing relief to other litigants. “The court, the government, the Foreign Office and the high commission are jointly executing a single warrant,” observed the court.

The bench said that it had to “convince itself with evidence that the government tried its best to [ensure] the compliance of the warrants”. Justice Farooq said that all official documents will be made part of the case’s record before declaring Nawaz an absconder. “[We] have to take this step-by-step. The purpose behind following the procedure is that no suspect can take any support in future,” he said.

Justice Kiyani also stressed on following the procedure, adding that the court had granted Nawaz a “complete chance” and will decide upon his appeals after hearing them. “The suspect must be sitting in London and laughing at the government and the public. It is a matter of extreme humiliation,” remarked Justice Kiyani and noted that Nawaz, while being abroad, was delivering addresses to the entire nation.

The court said that the statement of consular attache Rao Abdul Hannan will be recorded via video link in the next hearing and adjourned proceedings until October 7.

Earlier this month, the IHC had issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Nawaz Sharif during a hearing over the former prime minister’s petition requesting exemption from appearing before the court. In the brief ruling, IHC’s Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani remarked that the PML-N supremo neither underwent a surgery despite citing it as a reason behind obtaining bail to travel to the United Kingdom nor was he admitted to a hospital.