Sharif cases posted for Thursday

Islamabad: An accountability court yesterday posted the hearing of three corruption cases against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family for Thursday.

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) deputy prosecutor general Zulfiqar Ahmad Bhutta requested judge Khalid Mehmood to fix the hearing on Monday when the former premier and his family are expected to return to Pakistan after spending eight years in exile.

He said the Sharifs would be produced in court on the same day, adding that the NAB chairman was authorised to order the arrest of those people whose cases have been referred to the court under the provisions of the NAB Ordinance.

Bhutta said the NAB chairman could even issue arrest warrants for the accused during trial.

Judge Mehmood, however, announced that the court would hear the three cases - pertaining to Hudabiya Paper Mills, Ittefaq Foundry and the Raiwind Estate - on Thursday.

Meanwhile, renowned jurist Zahid Ali Bukhari told Gulf News yesterday that former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif can only avoid arrest in the Sabzazar shootout case if he gets an interim bail that requires him to appear before the Rawalpindi High Court or the Supreme Court.

An anti-terrorism court has declared him a proclaimed offender in the case. In a related development the joint action committee of the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM) warned the government of countrywide clashes if the two Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leaders are arrested on their return.

"The top leadership of the APDM component parties will go to the Islamabad airport in a procession to welcome the PML-N leaders," said PML-N leader Raja Zafarul Haq.