LAHORE: Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s children – Hussain, Hassan, and Maryam Nawaz – and son-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar are likely to shun the accountability court’s summons tomorrow, sources told ARY News on Sunday.
The accountability court may issue ‘non-bailable’ arrest warrants for Sharif children in defiance of the court orders to turn up before it in a graft reference filed against them by National Accountability Bureau (NAB), sources further said.
Currently, most of the Sharif family members are in London.
Earlier today, Sharif – who is in Pakistan – had visited his father’s final resting place in Lahore along with his younger brother and Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
In a brief interaction with the party workers, he appealed them to pray for his wife’s early recovery, who has recently undergone two surgeries for throat cancer.
Sharif said his children are in London and will come back to Pakistan once their mother’s health recovers.
After their persistent failure to show up in the previous hearings in the NAB graft reference, the accountability court had issued their bailable arrest warrants, which were also dispatched to Pakistani High Commissioner in London last week.
PML-N paves way for Nawaz Sharif’s reinstatement as party chief
A National Assembly session has also been summoned on October 2 (Monday), two days earlier before the scheduled date, to pave the way for reinstatement of deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as the chief of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
The move is being deemed as part of the ruling party’s endeavour to restore deposed premier as PML-N president after getting the Election Bill 2017 approved from National Assembly.
President Mamnoon Hussain is expected to sign the bill into law immediately after passage of the bill from the lower house, informed sources said, adding that the party is also to convene a meeting on 3rd Oct.
Last week, the ruling party had managed to muddle through passing the Elections Reforms Bill 2017 without amending the clause 203, which states that any individual who is not qualified to become a member of the parliament, should not be eligible to become a party’s chairperson either.
The amendment was proposed by the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP), which was defeated by 38 votes to 37 votes in the Senate despite the opposition has more votes in the upper house. Hence, the amendment was rejected by a margin of one vote.
The 67-year-old former PM Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in its landmark Panamagate verdict, announced on July 28 this year.
After the court verdict of Nawaz Sharif’s ouster from the top executive office of the country, the election commission ordered the ruling party to elect a new party chief as a disqualified person could not hold any office in a political party.
Sharif’s appearance before accountability court
Last week on Sept 26 (Tuesday), the former premier had appeared before the accountability court in three graft references filed by the anti-corruption watchdog in connection with his family’s offshore properties.
After a brief hearing, Judge Muhammad Bashir allowed Sharif to leave. Sharif informed the judge that his wife is not well. He added his children are in London, looking after their ailing mother.
Sharif’s indictment in NAB references on Oct 2
The court handed over copies of the references along with relevant documents to Sharif’s counsel Khawaja Harris and said it would indict him on next hearing on Oct 2 (tomorrow).
Sharif arrived in the court amid tight security and an extensive protocol comprising more than 30 vehicles. Special security arrangements had been made with around 1500 personnel of the police and Frontier Constabulary deployed outside and along the road leading to the court.
