Nawaz Sharif seeks protective bail ahead of his return to Pakistan after 4 years

Ahead of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's scheduled return to Pakistan on Saturday, a protective bail petition has been filed in the Islamabad High Court by his legal team to restrain the authorities from arresting the PML-N supremo on his arrival, it emerged on Wednesday.

The 73-year-old politician was convicted in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia cases and was declared a proclaimed offender in the Toshakhana vehicle case, which is pending before an accountability court in Islamabad. Nawaz was on bail in these cases when he left for the UK in 2019 for medical treatment.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo is scheduled to return to Pakistan on October 21, ending his four-year-long self-imposed exile in the UK.

According to the petition, Nawaz was seeking protective bail in order to surrender before the court and “submit to due process of justice and avail remedies permissible under the law”.

The plea sought the Islamabad High Court's direction to stop authorities from arresting Nawaz from the airport on his return to the country on October 21 to allow him to surrender before the court.

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The petition stated that Nawaz could not return on time due to health issues, which were further exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The petition also stated that "any hypothesis of deliberate abscondence is not reconcilable with the petitioner's conduct and track record, which is exemplary".

The plea mentioned that Nawaz has not fully recovered and was not in an "ideal state of health", but he was returning when the country was facing the "worst-ever crises of the economy and other fronts".

The petition urged the court to grant the former prime minister protective bail in the interest of justice.

The Islamabad High Court is likely to hear the plea in the next two days to allow Nawaz to have a smooth landing and address a rally of his supporters in Lahore as planned by his PML-N party, sources said.

Last month, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif confirmed that his elder brother Nawaz Sharif was returning to Pakistan on October 21 to lead the party's campaign for the general election. Subsequently, the party announced that Nawaz was ready to face “all kinds of circumstances” upon his return from London.

Nawaz stepped down as Pakistan's prime minister in 2017 after he was disqualified for life from holding public office by the Supreme Court for not declaring a receivable salary. He has been living in London since 2019 after the Lahore High Court granted him four-week permission allowing him to go abroad for his treatment.

He was serving a seven-year imprisonment at Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail in the Al-Azizia Mills case before he was allowed to proceed to London in 2019 on "medical grounds".

In 2020, an accountability court declared Nawaz a proclaimed offender in the Toshakhana vehicles case. He is also accused of obtaining luxury cars from the treasury house by paying just 15 per cent of the price of these vehicles.

Nawaz was convicted in the Al-Azizia Mills and Avenfield corruption cases in 2018.

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