Former prime minister and PML-N supremo Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has filed applications in the Islamabad High Court requesting the court to restore his pending appeals against his convictions in two NAB references. The applications were filed by Amjad Pervaiz advocate in the high court on behalf of Nawaz Sharif on Monday. The IHC has been prayed to restore the appeals of the petitioner against his conviction in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia references. The court had dismissed both appeals due to non-pursuance of the case.

The former premier was convicted in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia references and was declared a proclaimed offender in the Toshakhana vehicle case, which is pending before an Islamabad accountability court. He was on bail in these cases when he left for the United Kingdom in 2019 on medical grounds. On his arrival in Islamabad on Saturday after four years of self-imposed exile, the first thing the PML-N supremo had done was to sign his court applications and complete his biometric verification at the Islamabad International Airport. It is to be noted that biometric verification is mandatory for filing petitions, civil miscellaneous applications, appeals, replies, and reports on behalf of respondents. The biometric verification can be done at the IHC, Nadra service centres or any kiosk or franchise offering the service.

On July 6, 2018, an accountability judge convicted Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and her husband Captain Safdar Awan in the Avenfield Apartments case investigated by a JIT formed to probe the Panama Papers revelations. But later, a division bench of the IHC virtually acquitted Nawaz Sharif by declaring the accountability court’s decision incorrect. The detailed court order said that the NAB could not give a satisfactory answer and failed to prove that Nawaz Sharif had purchased the Avenfield Apartments in the name of his daughter and adopted illegal means and that Maryam, being his dependent, had abetted him in concealing the true ownership.

 
Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)