LHC adjourns hearing of Shehbaz’s bail plea
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, along with other party leaders, addressing a press conference in Islamabad on August 24, 2020. PHOTO: TWITTER/ @pmln_org
Hearing of Leader of Opposition Mian Shehbaz Sharif’s pre-arrest bail plea was adjourned on Thursday, although several PML-N parliamentarians had arrived at the Lahore High Court with an expectation that he might be arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
An LHC division bench headed by Justice Sardar Ahmed Naeem adjourned the hearing till September 28 for further arguments.
The bench was hearing the bail petition of Shehbaz in an assets beyond means and money laundering case.
As the proceedings commenced, the petitioner’s counsel Azam Nazir Tarar criticised statements of Prime Minister’s Adviser Shehzad Akbar on a sub judice matter. He contended that minsters were giving remarks about Shehbaz Sharif’s arrest. He requested the court to take notice of statements on a matter pending before the LHC.
He alleged that NAB wants his client’s custody at a time when local bodies elections were just round the corner, to benefit the government.
Another counsel Advocate Amjad Pervez implored the court that in light of decisions of the superior courts, it was necessary to show arrest in all cases registered against an accused in the same police station.
He claimed that it was a mala fide act that accused Shehbaz Sharif’s arrest had not been shown in the assets beyond means case.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2020.