The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday fixed September 18 as the date for hearing of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s plea for the suspension of his sentence in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills reference.
A two-judge bench comprising Justice Amir Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani will hear the former prime minister’s plea. The same day, the court will also hear the National Accountability Bureau’s appeal against Nawaz’s acquittal in the Flagship Investment reference.
Due to summer vacations, the hearings have been set for the month of September. The schedule of hearings comes a day after the law ministry barred judge Arshad Malik from serving as an accountability court judge. Malik’s services were returned to the Lahore High Court after the IHC requested his removal over a controversial video unveiled by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in which he purportedly admits to having been blackmailed into convicting the three-time former prime minister. In the backdrop of Malik’s removal, the PML-N was gunning for an immediate hearing on Nawaz’s appeal against the Al-Azizia conviction. However, the former prime minister now faces a wait of a little over two months as the IHC’s summer vacations run from July 8 to September 9.
