SHC grants protective bail to Miftah Ismail

KARACHI: A bench of Sindh High Court (SHC) approved protective bail to former finance minister and PML-N leader Miftah Ismail on Friday, ARY News reported.

Ismail refused to leave the court room till getting written order of the bail. “The government using fascist tactics (against opponents). I will not leave the court room till receiving the written court order,” he said.

The court also granted seven days’ interim bail to former managing director Pakistan State Oil Sheikh Imranul Haque.

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Javed Iqbal Thursday signed arrest warrants of Miftah Ismail in LNG scandal.

The NAB teams yesterday conducted raids at his residences in Karachi and Islamabad for arrest of Ismail.

Miftah Ismail reached the court early morning today to submit his bail plea.

Talking to media in court, the PML-N leader said there was no need for NAB to conduct raids. He said he had received notices after 3:00 pm yesterday for appearing before NAB at 10:00 in the morning.

Whenever the accountability bureau had summoned, he had appeared before it, he said.

Ismail also termed the arrest of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as unlawful, adding: “Pakistan has never seen a man as sincere as Shahid Khaqan Abbasi”.

A NAB team was also present at the SHC premises.

Former managing director of Pakistan State Oil Sheikh Imranul Haque also present in the court premises, for whom arrest warrants were also issued by the NAB chairman.

Former prime minister of Pakistan and PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi also arrested by the accountability bureau in the same case yesterday.