Islamabad HC to hear contempt of court plea against Pakistan PM Shahbaz Sharif, brother Nawaz today
Aug 29, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], August 29 : Islamabad High Court is set to hear a contempt petition against Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday, local media reported.
The News International reported that the High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah will hear the application today.
Lawyer Syed Zafar Ali Shah has filed the petition in the IHC in which it has been stated that Nawaz Sharif went abroad with the permission of the Lahore High Court (LHC) due to illness and Shahbaz Sharif submitted an affidavit that his brother (Nawaz Sharif) would return after recovery but his brother did not return, The News International reported.
It has been requested that Nawaz Sharif be declared a proclaimed offender by various courts, contempt of court proceedings should be initiated against Shahbaz Sharif and Nawaz Sharif and the court should issue orders for the return of Nawaz Sharif.
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and his brother Nawaz Sharif, Federal Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been made parties in the petition, as per the publication.
The Registrar's Office objected that the affidavit had been submitted in the Lahore High Court, therefore, that was the forum for the application, it added.
Meanwhile, a Pakistan federal minister has claimed that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif would return to the country in September.
After Shahbaz Sharif, brother of Nawaz Sharif became the Prime Minister in April, PML-N leaders were hoping for their party leader's early return, reported Dawn.
In 2018, an accountability court sentenced Nawaz to seven years in prison in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference, while he was also sentenced to a total of 11 years in prison and slapped a Pound 8 million fine (Rs 1.3 billion) in the Avenfield properties reference.
Subsequently, in 2019, the Lahore High Court (LHC) after suspending his sentence, allowed Nawaz to go abroad for medical treatment. He departed for London on November 19, 2019, and since then, he never returned to the country.
Sharif, who is in a self-imposed exile in London on medical grounds, will be looking to make a comeback as the PML-N government is considering relevant legislation to ease the former PM's return.
The coalition government is looking to make relevant amendments that would help repeal the ban imposed on Sharif by a Supreme Court judgement in the Panama Papers case against him.
