The Supreme Court will hear a plea filed by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif seeking bail on medical grounds during the next week.
Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa Wednesday ordered that the PML-N leader’s plea be fixed for hearing sometime next week. The petition will be heard by a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court.
Sharif has twice submitted requests to the apex court for an early hearing of his application.
Nawaz Sharif is serving a seven-year jail term awarded to him in the Al-Azizia corruption case at the Kot Lakhpat jail. In recent days, family members and PML-N leaders have raised concerns about his reportedly deteriorating health and the treatment options available to him.
The PML-N supremo had earlier this week approached the apex court for a second time seeking an early hearing of his petition against the February 25 order of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), which had dismissed his bail petition on medical grounds in the Al-Azizia case. The former prime minister’s counsel, Khawaja Haris, had filed the fresh petition a week after the top court’s registrar office had rejected the initial plea for early hearing of the appeal.
Published in Daily Times, March 14th 2019.
