The Islamabad High Court (IHC), today, will hear petitions of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz for suspension of the Acountability Court’s verdict against them.
Nawaz’s lawyer Khawaja Harris is expected to conclude his arguments during the hearing.
The lawyer for Captain (retired) Safdar, Amjad Pervez, has also been directed to conclude his arguments today.
Earlier, on August 8, a two-member bench of the IHC, comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, ordered Captain (retired) Safdar’s lawyer to make Accountability Court party to his petition.
Advocate Amjad Pervez had argued that a plea to nullify verdict can be accepted if the prison sentence is less than five years. Justice Farooq noted this was the reason that Captain (retired) Safdar's petition had been separated from his wife Maryam and father-in-law Nawaz Sharif's pleas.
Safdar's lawyer had contended that while the court had ordered the sentences of all three convicted in the case to begin simultaneously, this was not the case for his client who had remained in the National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) custody for a day.
Pervez further said that the Accountability Court's ruling in the Avenfield case was based on a forged signature on a trust deed.
He said, "The expert witness had admitted that the Calibri font was available in 2005."
While replying to this, Justice Farooq remarked that it would be better if the case's merits were not discussed.
The IHC bench ordered the petitioner to make the Accountability Court a party to the case as the plea was against the latter's ruling.
The Sharif family had petitioned against their convictions in the Avenfield reference. Nawaz had also filed a plea to transfer the Al-Azizia and Flagship Investment corruption references from the court of Judge Mohammad Bashir to another accountability court.