IHC seeks court order for Safdar’s release

NAB has challenged the Oct 9 ruling setting him free on bail

 ISLAMABAD  : The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday granted time to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for submitting an accountability court order through which Captain (retired) Muhammad Safdar was released on bail in the Avenfield Apartment reference.

IHC’s division bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani issued these directions after it noted that NAB challenged the decision, without submitting a detailed order from the trial court granting Safdar bail.

Last week, NAB challenged Safdar’s release on bail, deeming it illegal while citing the lack of jurisdiction that the accountability court has over releasing accused persons from custody, as per the NAB Ordinance, 1999

NAB has requested that the IHC set aside the accountability court’s October 9 order by declaring it ‘illegal’ and consequently, Safdar be remanded.



NAB’s special prosecutor Afzal Qureshi and the Accountability prosecutor general Waqas Qadeer Dar, made Safdar and a judge from the accountability court, respondents in the petition filed before IHC on Friday.

In the petition, the prosecutors stated that Safdar did not appear before trial courts in response to bailable warrants of arrests issued for him and the court had no choice but to revert to issuing non-bailable warrants for Safdar to ensure his attendance on October 9.

The NAB petition stated that the bureau then arrested Safdar from the Benazir Bhutto International Airport on October 8 and produced him before the court on October 9, while requesting that he be remanded to judicial custody.

However, the petition maintained that Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir ‘unlawfully’ released Safdar upon the submission of a bond and surety, each amounting to Rs5 million. It said that the judge “ignored the principles of dealing with an accused in custody and the powers to grant bail”.

The officials alleged that the trial court “failed to appreciate that it has no power to release any accused from custody” and the only way to release him on bail was to invoke the jurisdiction of the high court under Article 199 of the Constitution. “The court was not competent to let him off,” the petition read.



It added that Safdar hampered court proceedings, did not appear before the court for various hearings and completely avoided the process of the law, despite the Supreme Court’s directions of concluding this case within six months.

In addition to requesting the court to remand Safdar, the NAB prosecutors have also asked the court to suspend the October 9 order till the decision.

Safdar, his wife Maryam Nawaz and his father-in-law, Nawaz Sharif are all facing trials in connection with the Avenfield Apartments reference.