PHC receives arrest warrants for Sharif’s children, Safdar

LONDON: Pakistan High Commission in London has received arrest warrants of ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s children as well as Captain (retd) Safdar who is currently in London and living at the Hasan Nawaz’s Avenfield apartment.

A source confirmed to The News that bailable arrest warrants for Hassan, Hussain and Maryam Nawaz and Safdar were sent through “fax and parcel” and officials of Pakistan High Commission have confirmed “receipt” to Pakistan’s Foreign Office.

“The arrest warrants came in the diplomatic bag on PIA’s flight and have been received through both sources,” said the source. However, a spokesman of PHC refused to confirm officially about the receipt of arrest warrants. “No comment,” said a spokesman.

The source said that two copies of warrants of each accused have been received at the PHC. The source revealed that a senior diplomat will give summons at Avenfield apartments in person and its understood that no summons were delivered to the accused at the time of filing of this report. The reception of Avenfield apartments is manned by a porter on 24-hours basis but there are dozens of flats in the same block and there is no direct access to four flats which are at the centre of Panama trial controversy. Its not clear whether any of the four mentioned in the summons signed receipts of the summons or not.

Failure to get signature of the accused will mean that the summons have technically not been delivered and that’s where the legal problem of signing comes in. Pakistan High Commission doesn’t have the power to get the summons of a Pakistani court enforced in the English legal jurisdiction.

The accountability court had issued bailable arrest warrants for Nawaz Sharif’s children Hassan, Hussain and Maryam Nawaz along with his son-in-law Captain (r) Safdar over failing to appear in National Accountability Bureau (NAB) references. Nawaz Sharif appeared before the NAB court on Wednesday but Geo News had reported on Saturday, prior to Nawaz Sharif’s departure, that his children will not become part of the accountability proceedings while Nawaz Sharif will seek exemption at his appearance.

The NAB court has announced to indict ex-premier on October 2 in the cases pertaining to Park Lane’s Avenfiled’s apartment and Azizia Steel Mills against the Sharif family. The accountability court in Islamabad on Tuesday summoned Maryam Nawaz, Hassan Nawaz, Hussain Nawaz and Captain (retd) Mohammad Safdar to appear before the court on October 2 but its understood that none will appear before the NAB court because Sharif family and its supporters say that Nawaz Sharif is being victimised, that he failed to get fair trial at the Supreme Court and there is no chance he will get fair trial at the level of lower courts in view of the fact that a SC judge is overseeing the proceedings and has taken control of the trial, enforcing the suspicion that there is element of revenge and witch-hung in actions against Nawaz Sharif and his family.