Web Desk (LTN NEWS): Monday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) put off deciding whether or not to hear the contempt of court case against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his brother, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, about the elder Sharif’s return to Pakistan.
According to the petition against the Sharif brothers, Nawaz went abroad with permission from the Lahore High Court (LHC) because he was sick. His brother had signed an affidavit saying that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo would return after he got better, but he never did.
The petition asked that Nawaz be called a “criminal” and that both brothers be charged with contempt of court.
The case was heard by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah. The petitioner’s lawyer, Syed Zafar Ali Shah, said that the LHC issued an order at Shehbaz’s request, while Nawaz made two appeals to the IHC.
Shah also said that Nawaz left the country while he was out on bail from the IHC. The federal cabinet had agreed to let him go abroad as long as he paid Rs25 million.
The chief justice said that the former federal cabinet took the ex-prime minister’s name off the Exit Control List (ECL) and that the government did not go to the IHC even though the appeal was still being heard by the high court.
He said, “The old federal cabinet gave him permission, but only if he put the money in the bank.”
“You’re a senior counsel. How can we hear this case when it is already being heard by another court?” Justice Minallah asked the lawyer for the petitioner. He also said that the former government had taken Nawaz’s name off the ECL without consulting the IHC, even though the case was still going on in the high court.
He said that the court would not look into what was going on.
The court said that the petition would have been thrown out with an example-setting fine, but it wouldn’t do that because Shah was an experienced lawyer. It also asked him if he wanted to drop the petition or if he wanted a court order.
Lawyer Syed Zafar Ali Shah said that he would pull the petition and go to the LHC instead if the IHC decided to turn it down.
Justice Minallah said that the petitioner’s lawyer could “go anywhere” and that the IHC wouldn’t say anything.
“We will send the right order about this request,” he said as a conclusion.
