ISLAMABAD – The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Monday postponed the hearing on former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s petition for an indefinite time, seeking suspension of his imprisonment sentence in Al-Azizia Steel Mills case.
The IHC stated that the above petition couldn’t be heard until the appeal of convicted person was finalized and fixed for proceeding.
A divisional bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aamir Farooq conducted hearing on a petition seeking suspension of Nawaz Sharif’s sentence.
The counsel for the former premier, Khawaja Haris prayed the court to hear the petition regarding the suspension of his client’s punishment. He argued that the appeal has been fixed for hearing after the court’s holidays, which are scheduled to end on Tuesday.
Justice Athar Minallah remarked that once the main appeal was picked for hearing, the bench would serve notices to the respondents on plea regarding the suspension of Nawaz’s sentence.
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It may be mentioned here that Nawaz Sharif’s counsel had submitted a plea for the third time on last Saturday after removing the objections of registrar office. The IHC has been requested to grant bail to Nawaz Sharif until a decision on the appeal against the verdict is decided.
Nawaz Sharif was convicted by the accountability court in the Al-Azizia reference and awarded seven years imprisonment besides a fine on December 25, last year.
Nawaz had earlier filed a plea in the IHC against his sentence on January 1. However, the IHC registrar had stated that the petition was incomplete and returned it. On January 3, Nawaz had filed another plea, but the IHC registrar returned it once again after citing reservations.
