Daily Times

The Islamabad High Court on Wednesday summoned former prime minister Nawaz Sharif through newspaper advertisements after arrest warrants against the PML-N supremo were not received by his representatives in London.

The court ordered that the advertisements be posted in Dawn and Jang newspapers.

It directed the federal government to bear the cost of the advertisements and the additional attorney general was asked to pay the fees within two days.

Earlier in the day, officials posted at the Pakistani High Commission in the United Kingdom informed IHC that a representative of Nawaz Sharif had initially agreed to receive the arrest warrants against the PML-N supremo, but changed his mind minutes before their arrival at the former prime minister’s Park Lane residence.

In a written reply submitted to the court, First Secretary of the High Commission Dildar Ali Abro said that Waqar Ahmed, a secretary to Nawaz Sharif’s son, called him and informed him that he will receive the warrants for the former prime minister.

Abro told the court that Waqar initially agreed to receive the warrants at Nawaz Sharif’s Park Lane residence in London. He then informed the High Commission of Waqar’s response, adding that the mission then allowed him to serve the warrants at the address.

“It was agreed with Waqar that he would receive the warrants on September 23 at 11am,” Abro told the court. He added that Waqar was also informed that the mission’s Consular Attache Rao Abdul Hanan would hand over the warrants.

“At 10:20am Waqar called me to apologise and declined to receive the warrants,” Abro told the court.

On the other hand, Hanan, in his statement, said that he had initially gone to the residence of the former premier on September 17 at 6:35pm to serve the warrants. He added that a domestic employee of Nawaz Sharif, Muhammad Yaqoob, had declined to receive the warrants, which is why the warrant could not be delivered to the former premier.

The Islamabad High Court had, in its last hearing, directed High Commission’s attache Rao Abdul Hanan to record a statement in the next hearing of the case via a video link.

During the same hearing, the IHC had observed that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s exit from Pakistan was a “mockery of the system” after Additional Attorney General Tariq Khokhar presented a compliance report on Nawaz Sharif’s arrest warrants issued by the high court.

The report was submitted to the two-member bench comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Justice Aamer Farooq, who are hearing a petition filed by the former prime minister against his sentence in the Avenfield case.

Earlier, Khokhar, while briefing the court on attempts made to arrest Nawaz Sharif, said that Hanan had visited the residence of the PML-N chief in London. He added that Eddie, the person at the apartment, had “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.

Khokhar had also 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.

Meanwhile, an accountability court in Islamabad on Wednesday issued a written order for the forfeiture of disclosed assets of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in Toshakhana reference.

The accountability court stated in its written order to forfeit disclosed assets of the proclaimed offender Nawaz Sharif in Toshakhana reference.

The chairman of Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and the deputy commissioners of Lahore, Sheikhupura, Rawalpindi, Abbottabad have been directed to implement the judicial orders. The Excise and Taxation Officer (ETO) Lahore was ordered to present a report till October 13 after forfeiture of the properties, vehicles and bank accounts of Nawaz Sharif.

The forfeiture of disclosed assets will include eight accounts, including three foreign currency accounts in different banks. It emerged that Nawaz Sharif has Rs 612,000 in five bank accounts and in foreign currency accounts. Those properties include a bungalow in Murree and 15-kanal residence in Changla Gali in Galyat, and properties in Lahore’s Upper Mall area. A total of 1,752-kanal of land is registered in the name of Nawaz Sharif and his dependents.