IHC rejects Capt Safdar's plea to defer indictment in graft case

ISLAMABAD: Retired Captain Muhammad Safdar, the son-in-law of the former prime minister, on Thursday approached the Islamabad High Court against his and wife Maryam Nawaz’s scheduled indictment in a graft reference, ARY News reported.

Safdar through his counsel filed a petition in the high court, requesting it to restrain a trial court from indicting him and his wife on Oct 13.

After preliminary hearing, a bench of the IHC disposed of the petition for being non-maintainable. It allowed the trial court to frame charges against the petitioner and his wife.

Safdar submitted in the petition that the accountability court is scheduled to indict him, his father-in-law Nawaz Sharif, and wife Maryam Nawaz on Oct 13 (Friday) in a graft reference pertaining to the Sharif family’s London flats.

He stated Maryam and he wanted to travel to London to see his mother-in-law Begum Kulsoom Nawaz undergoing treatment for throat cancer. Thus, he said, the trial court be directed to postpone their indictment.

The petitioner argued that the framing of charges against them on Oct 13 is illegal and unconstitutional since they have not been given the minimum seven days to peruse the reference and relevant material.

He, thus, requested the court to restrain the trial court from framing charges against him and other members of his family.

Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his sons – Hussain and Hassan – have been nominated in three  NAB references, while Maryam and her husband have been named only in a reference related to the family’s London flats.

Judge Muhammad Bashir of the NAB court had on Monday supplied Maryam and her spouse a copy of the reference along with relevant material to peruse. He had granted bail to both the accused against a surety bond of Rs5 million.