Avenfield Reference
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued orders on Tuesday, instructing the lawyers of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif to present their arguments on the Avenfield reference on November 27. The court’s directive came during the hearing of appeals filed by Sharif against his conviction in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption references.
A two-member division bench, led by IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and including Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, presided over the appeals hearing. Nawaz Sharif’s legal team informed the court of their planned sequence for the hearing, focusing on the appeal against the Avenfield reference.
Responding to the Chief Justice’s query about the time needed for arguments, Sharif’s lawyer, Amjad Pervez, stated that a decision on the Avenfield reference had been made on merit, emphasizing that the acquittal of the co-accused had not been challenged in the Supreme Court.
Chief Justice Farooq directed the lawyers to concentrate solely on the Avenfield case, disregarding the Al-Azizia reference for the time being. He emphasized that arguments on merit had not been heard in the Al-Azizia case, where only the sentence had been suspended.
The court inquired about the time required for arguments, with Pervez mentioning a need for four to six hours. The Chief Justice suggested focusing on the Avenfield case exclusively and adjourned the hearing to November 27, 2023. The court allotted one to two hours for the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to present its arguments.
In a related development, the court’s registrar’s office issued a circular addressing security concerns ahead of the hearing. The circular directed the Inspector General of Police Islamabad Capital Territory and the federal capital’s administration to ensure security arrangements, emphasizing the need to maintain the decorum of the court during the proceedings.
Nawaz Sharif, sentenced in the Al-Azizia and Avenfield references in 2018, recently returned to Pakistan after seeking medical treatment abroad. His appeals, initially dismissed when he traveled abroad, were restored upon his return, with the National Accountability Bureau raising no objections to granting him bail. Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz and her husband Captain (retd) Safdar, co-accused in the case, were previously acquitted by the appellate court.
