ISLAMABAD/LAHORE - Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif yesterday moved the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking restoration of appeals against the accountability courts’ verdicts in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia cases.
Nawaz’s counsel Amjad Pervez filed the petitions in the IHC, requesting the court to hear the appeals on merit as earlier they were discarded for non-compliance when the PML-N supremo did not return from London after he was granted permission by the court in November 2019 to go abroad for medical treatment.
In the Avenfield petition, the PML-N chief maintained that he was sentenced in absentia on July 6, 2018 in the Avenfield reference as he could not attend a court hearing in view of his wife’s ailment who was undergoing treatment and on the ventilator at a hospital in London.
Nawaz said his appeals against the Avenfield and Al-Azizia references were not dismissed on merit rather they were discarded for non-compliance.
The PML-N supremo implored the court in the petitions to restore the appeal “to its original position along with all interim, incidental and ancillary orders connected therewith and the same may kindly decided on merits in accordance with law in the interest of justice”. Nawaz had signed the legal documents including appeals to be filed in the IHC on returning to Pakistan after four years of self-imposed exile in London on Saturday. The appeals were dismissed due to non-appearance of Nawaz in the IHC. In the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference, Nawaz Sharif was sentenced to seven years in jail on December 24, 2018. Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif, after spending a day with his family at Jati Umra residence, reached Murree. Party sources said that he would be meeting senior party leaders during his stay in Murree. They also said that a meeting between Mian Nawaz Sharif and party’s estranged leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was most likely to be held in the next few days. The sources said that party Quaid would persuade Abbasi to come back to the party fold and shun the idea of forming a new political party. The making of a new political party by estranged leaders from different political parties has been in the air for quite some time. The PML-N’s Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Mustafa Nawaz Khokar of the PPP have been more vocal in supporting this idea. Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif has thanked the people especially the party workers including the youth and women who came from all over the country to give him a rousing welcome at the historic Minar-e-Pakistan ground on Saturday last. In a post on X, formerly twitter, the PML-N leader termed October 21 an unforgettable gathering and attributed this to the hard work and sincerity of the party workers. He said their love, hard work and sincerity were a precious asset for him.
