Court defers Nawaz's indictment, issues non-bailable warrants for his children

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif made a second appearance before an anti-corruption court on Monday.

The court deferred the indictment of the former prime minister until the next hearing.

The accountability court also issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Sharif's children Hassan, Hussain, and Maryam, and for son-in-law Captain Safdar after they failed to appear before it despite repeated summons.

Nawaz's counsel Mohsin Ranjha speaking to media outside the court said that the former prime minister's indictment had been deferred until next hearing fixed for Oct 9.

Ranjha further said the court had been assured that Maryam Nawaz and her husband Capt (retd) Safdar would appear in the next hearing. 

The former prime minister's plea of exemption from personal appearance is also yet to be deliberated upon, he added. 

Former PM arrived in Islamabad late night on Sunday, where he held a consultative meeting with senior leaders and lawyers to discuss the prevailing issue regarding his appearance in the accountability court.

It is a closed-door hearing in which only Nawaz, his counsel, a group of supporting lawyers, are allowed entry into the court. The main gate of the Federal Judicial Complex, where the court is located, is not opened to journalists.

About 2,000 Rangers and police personnel have been deployed in and around the judicial complex where the hearing is taking place. 

Nawaz had earlier appeared before the accountability court on Sept 26 in connection with three graft cases.

However, his children Husan Nawaz, Hussain Nawaz, Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Safdar have not come from London to appear in court to face the graft cases.

Former PM and his family members had been summoned by the court with regards to three corruption references filed against them by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). At the last hearing, Accountability Court-I Judge Mohammad Bashir ordered to indict Nawaz and issued bailable arrest warrants for his absent family members, including  daughter Maryam, sons Hussain and Hasan, and son-in-law MNA Capt (retd) Safdar  as they failed to appear in court despite two summons.

Talking to media, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said that Sharif’s children are busy looking after their mother (Kulsoom Nawaz) and unlikely to appear in the accountability court. The court should have given more time for indictment, he added.

It is to mention here that former first lady Kulsoom Nawaz has undergone three successful surgeries for throat cancer in London and her condition is stated to be stable.

The Supreme Court had disqualified Nawaz Sharif, as Prime Minister on July 28 in the Panama Papers case and ordered the NAB to file references against the Sharif family and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in the light of the Joint Investigation Team’s report.

Finance Minister Dar has already been indicted in the reference against him for possessing assets beyond his known sources of income.