ISLAMABAD - With former prime minister Nawaz Sharif not turning up before the Accountability Court, Islamabad on Thursday (today), the court would unlikely to proceed further to indict Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Captain (retired) Mohammad Safdar, as their main counsel is abroad and will not be available for the next few days.
The indictment of Nawaz Sharif and his family members is being deferred for the past few dates of hearing.
At the first instance, the sons of former premier Hussain and Hassan Nawaz failed to appear before the court, and the court had to separate their cases from the rest of the accused to proceed further.
Later, on the next date of hearing, Nawaz Sharif appeared before the court but as Maryam Nawaz and her spouse Captain (retired) Mohammad Safdar failed to appear, the indictment process was deferred again.
Then Maryam Nawaz and her spouse Captain (retired) Safdar appeared before the court but this time former premier Nawaz Sharif left for London to see his ailing spouse without intimating the court.
The indictment was deferred yet again on the last date of hearing, when the court could not take up the case as unruly lawyers hovered the rostrum and judge Mohammad Bashir was left with no choice but to adjourn the hearing without any proceedings.
The court would be taking up the case today but this time the main counsel representing all the three — Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz and Capt Safdar - would not be available as he left for London without intimating the court and would not be back until Sunday.
Some political analysts said that the Sharif family was successfully deferring the court proceedings by adopting delaying tactics and know how the court would proceed further in the given situation.
The court on previous date of hearing directed that it would indict Nawaz Sharif and others in the corruption reference even if they failed to turn up in the court.
Now it would have to be seen whether the court would charge-sheet Nawaz Sharif, who would not appear before the court today, Capt Safdar and his spouse Maryam Nawaz.
On the previous date of hearing, the court had fixed October 19 for indictment of the three but as their main counsel in the case Khawaja Haris was not present, so the process of indictment might defer for another time.
Meanwhile, judge Mohammad Bashir of the accountability court directed to restrict the entry in the courtroom up to 50 during the hearing of corruption cases against Nawaz Sharif and other family members today.
The court has sought a list of 15 persons each from the NAB, the accused and the media so that they would be provided with special entry passes to attend the court proceedings.
The court has also directed streamlining security related issues keeping in view the unruly scenes witnessed in the courtroom during the previous hearing.