NEW DELHI, Sep 18: The former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif, currently in the United Kingdom for medical treatment, is facing the threat of imminent arrest after the Islamabad High Court issued non-bailable warrants in connection with the two alleged corruption cases and the Pakistan government accordingly issuing arrest warrants.
Various media sources in UK said the Pakistan government had sent the arrest warrants through its mission in London as the Islamabad High Court had ordered the Pakistan foreign secretary to ensure that Sharif was produced before it on September 22.
Sharif, 70, has been in London since November last year after the Lahore High Court granted him permission to go abroad for four weeks for treatment. But he was avoiding returning to Pakistan citing medical complications even after he was given eight weeks’ time by the courts.
Sharif, the three-time premier, his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Muhammad Safdar were convicted in the Avenfield properties case on July 6, 2018. Sharif was also sentenced to seven years in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case in December 2018. But, he was bailed out in both cases and also allowed to go to London for medical treatment.
The Pakistan High Commission in London has received arrest warrants sent by the government for Sharif, media reports confirmed. The reports said all legal formalities and procedures would be followed in executing the arrest warrant.
The Islamabad High Court earlier this week had issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Sharif while dismissing his application seeking exemption from personal appearance in the hearing of appeals against his conviction in the Al-Azizia and Avenfield properties references.
Sharif was serving a seven-year prison sentence in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail before being allowed to go to the UK.
(Manas Dasgupta)
