Nawaz appears before courts in capital today

ISLAMABAD: The PMLN has asked its workers and leaders to be disciplined when party Quaid Nawaz Sharif appears before the Islamabad High Court and Accountability Court today, seeking relief in cases in which he was sentenced. 

Well-placed sources told The News here on Monday evening that Nawaz, who arrived here earlier in the day, left for Murree. After staying overnight, he will descend to Islamabad by road. Maryam Nawaz, Pervez Rashid and Ishaq Dar are accompanying him in Murree and they all will come here with him. Former prime minister and PMLN President Shehbaz Sharif will join his brother in court appearance and come by a special plane from Lahore. Few other stalwarts will also accompany him in the sojourn to Islamabad. Nawaz, who has started taking part in political activities, could be visiting Maulana Fazlur Rehman and former federal minister Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry separately today (Tuesday). The mother-in-law of the Maulana passed away early this month while Fazal’s son died in a road accident in July. Shehbaz and Maryam have visited him to offer condolences. The whole PMLN leadership could visit Fazal at his Chak Shehzad residence for expression of gloom today, the sources hinted.

The Islamabad administration has made elaborate security arrangements for the movement of Nawaz in the federal capital. Islamabad Inspector General of Police Dr Akbar Nasir Khan chaired a meeting to draw a strategy to deal with any eventuality. He is hopeful that the situation would remain calm as the PMLN leadership has already issued directions to its workers to stay peaceful. The PMLN Quaid’s legal team on Monday filed applications with the IHC, seeking restoration of appeals in Avenfield Property and Al-Azizia Steel Mills references. Advocate Amjad Pervaiz filed the applications and prayed to the court to decide the appeals after hearing arguments on merit. The PMLN Quaid, in the petitions, stated that he hadn’t completely recovered from ailment, adding that he decided to return home due to the miserable economic condition of the country. He said he was awarded imprisonment by the accountability court in his absence on July 6, 2018. He said his wife was on the ventilator in a hospital of London. He had requested the trial court to delay the judgment, but the request was rejected. Despite the fact, he came back to Pakistan, faced jail and filed appeals against his convictions. Nawaz said the co-accused including Maryam Nawaz and her husband had already been acquitted in the Avenfield property case. The application said the appeals were terminated in the absence of the petitioner. It said that the former prime minister couldn’t appear before the court due to his health issues, adding that he had not misused his bail in manner. It also said the petitioner had been submitting his medical reports to the Lahore High Court (LHC).