Pakistan court suspends perpetual arrest warrants against former PM Nawaz Sharif’s sons

Islamabad: A Pakistan anti-corruption court on Thursday suspended the perpetual arrest warrants against the two sons of former premier Nawaz Sharif in a case of alleged corruption, clearing the last hurdle in the way for their safe return to the country.

An accountability court had declared Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz as proclaimed offenders in the Avenfiled case in 2018 and had issued non-bailable perpetual arrest warrants against them.

The case revolves around the ownership and acquisition of luxury apartments in London by the Sharif family.

The two through counsel Qazi Misbahul Hassan had filed an application in the Islamabad-based accountability court to suspend the warrants issued against them in the case.

The lawyer said his clients Hassan and Hussain both wanted to return to Pakistan on March 12 and appear before the court, requesting the court to suspend the arrest warrants as their purpose was to bring back the accused persons to the court.

He said that two arrest warrants had already been suspended, and the accused were willing to surrender before the court.

Accountability court judge Nasir Javed Rana reserved the verdict after hearing the arguments, which he announced later in the day, ruling that the perpetual arrest warrants for the accused have been suspended until March 14.

The two brothers were implicated in the cases in 2018 along with their father Nawaz Sharif, sister Maryam Nawaz and her husband Muhammad Safdar.

All other accused, including Sharif, have been acquitted in all the cases and only the two brothers were still required to face the courts as they were not formally tried due to their absence.

It should be mentioned that in 2018, Sharif, Maryam and Safdar were convicted in the Avenfield while Sharif was also convicted in the Al-Azizia cases and acquitted in the Flagship case.

All of them separately challenged convictions in the Islamabad High Court. Maryam and Safdar were the first to get relief in 2022 when they were acquitted while Sharif was still living in London.

Last year, Sharif returned and after brief proceedings, he was acquitted in all cases.

Nawaz’s younger brother Shehbaz Sharif was elected as Pakistan's prime minister for a second time after the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party agreed on a power-sharing deal to form a coalition government.

In the February 8 elections, Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party came second behind independent candidates backed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Maryam, the 50-year-old daughter of Nawaz Sharif, took oath as the first-ever woman chief minister of Pakistan's most populous and politically crucial Punjab province on February 26.