IHC grants bail on medical grounds to Nawaz till Tuesday in Al Azizia case

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday granted a bail for medical reasons to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in the Al Azizia reference until Tuesday.

The development came shortly after the National Office of Accountability (NAB), in its response to the IHC, said "it has no objection to the granting of bail."

The court ordered that two bonds worth Rs2 million each be submitted to ensure the release of Nawaz.

Nawaz, a day earlier, had also obtained a bond in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.

The president of PML-N, Shehbaz Sharif, had submitted a statement seeking the bail of his brother, Nawaz Sharif, in the case of Al Azizia.

The court had accepted a request from Shehbaz on Saturday to hear the bail request today, instead of Tuesday.

Nawaz's lawyer regretted that Nawaz's health has not been taken seriously for a long time. "He was taken on purpose from jail to NAB. He was already in jail and could have been investigated there."

He said his "medical treatment was not performed and his doctor stayed away." The lawyer demanded an investigation into the fears expressed by Nawaz's children of "being poisoned."

He thanked the people for their prayers and the media for highlighting the issue that "caused the government to take action for fear." He also expressed his gratitude to the court for having issued a "fair" verdict.

Judicial proceedings

A two-member bank composed of the president of the IHC Supreme Court, Athar Minallah, and Judge Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani heard Shehbaz's request for his brother's bail.

During the course of the hearing, the president of the court said that, to begin with, the request for bail for medical reasons should not have been submitted to the court, since the government has the authority to decide on such matter.

Addressing the secretary of the interior, the president of the court, Minallah, said: "You have half an hour to ask the president of the NAB if he will oppose the sentence or file a sworn statement (stating that he has no objections)."

Once the court hearing resumed after a short break, the president of the court made clear the fact that "if the government opposes the bail request, then [the court] will reject the request. "

"However, if something happens to Nawaz Sharif at this time, the responsibility lies with NAB and the government."

The president of the court raised the question once again: "Does the government oppose the granting of bail? [to Nawaz Sharif]? "

"We cannot comment on the matter at this time," replied the secretary of the interior.

Given this, the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, Minallah, said: "Do not put full responsibility (for the outcome of the verdict) on the shoulders of the court. If you are sure that nothing will happen to Nawaz Sharif until Tuesday, take responsibility. "

The court has given the government until Tuesday to submit a detailed medical report, according to DawnNewsTV.

While the additional attorney general said that the federal government "has no role in the matter," the interior secretary commented: "We cannot assume any responsibility."

The secretary of the interior also said: "You must base your judgment on the merits of the case."

"If you are not willing to file an affidavit, there must be something wrong," said the president of the court, Minallah. "This court will not assume any responsibility," he said.

The Punjab's general lawyer then requested permission to discuss the matter with Chief Minister Usman Buzdar. Granting permission, the court once again put the hearing on hold.

When the session resumed, after a response from the president of the NAB stating that there were no objections to the bond, the court announced its decision to grant Nawaz's provisional bond until Tuesday.

Court session on the urgent hearing request

Earlier in the day, when the court met to decide on the request for an urgent hearing, the bank noted that a medical report had been filed in court during yesterday's hearing of the bail statement and asked why an early hearing request had to be filed today

Attorney Khawaja Haris said Nawaz had suffered a "minor heart attack" last night and that his "life is in danger." A copy of a verdict issued yesterday by the Lahore High Court was also presented to the court, in which Nawaz had received a bond in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.

The IHC issued notices to Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Punjab, Usman Buzdar, and the President of the National Accountability Office, the retired judge Javed Iqbal, and ordered them to send a representative to the court before 4pm today.

Shehbaz had appealed to the IHC to grant bail to Nawaz in the case of Al Azizia, in which the latter is sentenced to seven years in prison, for medical reasons earlier this week. A two-member IHC bank had heard the bail request yesterday and after questioning the Medical Superintendent of Hospital Services (MS) Dr. Saleem Cheema, who is part of the medical board that treats Nawaz, the high court He suspended the hearing until Tuesday.

In the appeal filed today, Shehbaz urged the court to accept the bail statement due to Nawaz's "extremely critical condition." He said the plea, which was heard yesterday, did not mention that on the night of October 24, Nawaz had suffered an angina attack "as a direct result of administering the drug to increase his platelets."

Nawaz gets bail in case of sugar mills

Yesterday, Lahore High Court, where Shehbaz had submitted a similar statement, had granted bail to Nawaz in the ongoing case of Chaudhry Sugar Mills.

The former prime minister was rushed to the Institute of Medical Sciences Services (SIMS) earlier this week after his personal physician warned of his deterioration in health.

On Tuesday, hospital doctors described Nawaz's condition as "serious" despite the transfusion of three mega platelet units within a few hours of admission.

According to medical tests on Tuesday, the former prime minister's platelet count "had dropped from 16,000 to a critical level of 2,000" when he was taken to the hospital on Monday night, which led to board members doctor to look for "immediately." platelet transfusion to save his life, "said one of the board members.

After a three-day fight, a six-member medical board, headed by the director of the Hospital of Services, Ayaz Mahmood, on Thursday diagnosed the reason for the deterioration of Nawaz's health.

"It is acute immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), a bleeding disorder, in which the immune system destroys platelets," said a board member Dawn. He said the treatment was given to the former prime minister in light of his diagnosis. "We hope your condition improves in a few days," he added.

Deposits delivered

Meanwhile, an accountability court in Lahore issued Nawaz's release orders in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case after Saiful Mulook Khokhar of PML-N filed two bail bonds worth Rs10 million each. The accountability judge Ameer Mohammad Khan issued the orders.

Additional report by Rana Bilal.