SHC dismisses plea seeking arrest of Nawaz, his sons through Interpol

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has dismissed a petition seeking the arrest of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his sons Hussain Nawaz, Hassan Nawaz and his nephew Salman Shahbaz Sharif through Interpol to serve their sentences, awarded by the accountability court in Avenfield property corruption case.

Petitioner Syed Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi submitted the plea that former PM Nawaz Sharif and his sons were convicted and sentenced by the accountability court but the convicts have not served their sentences yet and now they had moved to the UK for residence.

He submitted that the writ for the arrest of the former premier, his sons and nephew, who were declared absconders in the Avenfield corruption case, should be issued through Interpol to bring them back to Pakistan and to force them to serve their sentences as well as to answer all the criminal charges pending against them.

To the court query about the locus standi, the petitioner maintained that the petition has been brought in the public interest, while the SHC’s division bench, headed by Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed, observed that the petition does not articulate what the fundamental right is sought to be enforced under Article-199(1)(c) of the Constitution.

The court also observed that rather the memo of the petition manifests under the garb of public interest, it has been brought for publicity.The court has observed that it has been held by the Supreme Court that the public interest litigation should not be aimed at publicity and the court must see that the member of the public approaching the court in public interest jurisdiction must be acting bonafide. The court also observed that the petition does not meet such requirements and was dismissed in the limine.