Al-Azizia reference: IHC exempts Nawaz from personal appearance for a day

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Tuesday accepted former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif’s plea for exemption from personal appearance for one day in the court on medical grounds in Al-Azizia reference.

A division bench of the court, comprising Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, resumed hearing of Nawaz’s plea against his conviction.

His counsel Khawaja Haris told the court that they had received paper book but it was not complete, as it contained selected record.

He said if any document was not produced in the trial court and it was not part of record then it couldn’t be read here. Haris further said that part-I of the record provided to Nawaz Sharif was different from the record provided to the court as well as details of few accounts were also unavailable in the paper book.

To this, Justice Aamir Farooq remarked that complete record should be here and he will ask the relevant branch why record was not complete. “There must be photocopies of all the record,” he added. The court ordered that the paper be re-arranged and produced on the next hearing on May 9.

Earlier, Nawaz’s legal team had filed a petition with the court stating that Nawaz Sharif was still under medical treatment that’s why he couldn’t appear before the court. In his plea, Nawaz requested for exemption from personal appearance for a day.

The medical report attached to the petition states that Nawaz Sharif was suffering from cardiac issues, irregularity in blood sugar level, and a third-grade kidney disease, and his health was being monitored thoroughly.