ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday issued notices to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Javed Iqbal and others on a fresh petition by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif seeking release from Kot Lakhpat Jail on medical grounds in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case.
A division bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the case.
At the start of the hearing, Justice Kayani asked about the health condition of the PML-N supreme leader. “Is Nawaz Sharif being treated or not,” he asked. His lawyer Khawaja Haris said he had attached medical experts’ prognosis about his client with the bail petition.
The former prime minister through his lawyer had filed the petition seeking suspension of his seven-year sentence and grant of post arrest bail on medical grounds.
The counsel, citing medical reports, had stated that his client’s condition was critical and he required a stress-free environment for his treatment. He added Nawaz Sharif was suffering from various diseases that could prove to be life-threatening.
He recalled that the Supreme Court had earlier suspended his sentence for six weeks so that he could get medical treatment from physicians of his choice.
The lawyer said medical tests of the former prime minister suggested “multifarious diseases of the petitioner are not only life-threatening, [but] the threat to the petitioner’s life on account of these co-morbidities is bound to aggravate in case the petitioner is exposed to any physical or psychological stress”.
He also rejected an impression that the petition was aimed at allowing Nawaz Sharif a chance to get treatment abroad and secure NRO [National Reconciliation Ordinance]-like deal.
“The propaganda launched by the government functionaries and political opponents of the petitioner, and a particular segment of the print and electronic media, to the effect, that the petitioner is seeking bail on medical grounds for his treatment abroad,” the counsel said, adding claims of NRO are not only tantamount to contempt of court, they are also malicious and false.
The Supreme Court earlier this month dismissed Nawaz’s review petition seeking permanent bail on medical grounds and the permission to go abroad for treatment.
The former premier, who has been serving a seven-year prison term at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail since December 2018, was granted a six-week bail on March 26 to get medical treatment. However, he filed a civil review petition against the order on April 27.
The petition had requested the court to allow Nawaz get medical treatment abroad, claiming that the former PM was suffering from acute anxiety and depression that would lead to ‘sudden death’.
It had said the medical professionals seeing the former premier in Pakistan recommend that he should be treated by his regular practitioners in the United Kingdom. It also said that there was a difference between the apex court’s March 26 oral order and the written order.
However, a three-judge special bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa and comprising Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Yahya Afridi, dismissed the petition after a after 86-minute-long hearing.
