ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday ordered Suleman Shahbaz to surrender before it on December 13 and restrained the authorities from arresting the son of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif until then.
The court issued a directive and asked the authorities not to arrest the petitioner at the airport. These orders were given by IHC Chief Justice Aamir Farooq during the hearing of the petition filed by the prime minister’s son for protective bail.
During the hearing, Suleman’s lawyer Amjad Parvez told the court that his client has been abroad since October 2018 and all the cases were registered after that.
However, the court told the counsel that it could not grant bail in the absence of the petitioner.
On this, Pervez urged the bench to stop the authorities from arresting his client, adding that his client would reach Islamabad on December 11. He also shared the air ticket of Suleman Shahbaz with the court.
Accepting the plea of the lawyer, the court directed Suleman to appear before the bench on December 13 and restrained the authorities from arresting the prime minister’s son on his arrival.
Prime Minister Shehbaz’s son had approached the IHC through his lawyer Amjad Pervez a day earlier to seek a two-week anticipatory bail in the money laundering case registered against him, as he sought to end his exile in London. What was the decision?
Suleman requested the court to grant him protective bail so that he can appear before the relevant forum on his return.
Suleman ended his London exile and returned to Pakistan.
Suleman Shahbaz is about to return to Pakistan after ending more than four years of exile in the British capital.
The Prime Minister’s sons are currently in Saudi Arabia – to perform Umrah – on their way to Pakistan and will arrive in Pakistan on Saturday with his wife and children.
Suleman had arrived in London from Pakistan before the 2018 general elections when the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) registered several cases against him.
He was named in several cases along with his father, the current prime minister, his brother Hamza Shahbaz and other members of the Sharif family.
The Asset Recovery Unit (ARU), headed by Imran Khan’s former accountability aide Shehzad Akbar, was arrested by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) in London in connection with Shehbaz’s money laundering and misuse of public office. Suleman was interrogated but was given a clean chit. After a two-year investigation by Britain’s top anti-corruption sleuths.
Suleman claimed that he was forced to leave Pakistan because fake and manipulated cases were framed against him and his family to facilitate a new political system.
He said that no one goes into exile of his own free will, leaving his homeland behind and it is only in unjust circumstances that he was left with no option but to “leave Pakistan for safety”.
“There was no possibility of justice when an entire system was devised to bring in a hybrid system, displacing us as a family and as a political party. The whole system was based on injustice and it depended on lies, manipulation and victimization. The whole system was ready to target us using fake cases and state machinery.
He said in a statement from Madinah: “These cases were the worst example of political witchcraft and political hunting. There was no truth in the cases framed by former NAB chairman Javed Iqbal and the National Accountability Bureau under the Asset Recovery Unit. Nor evidence of corruption.
“The former NAB chairman was blackmailed by the previous government through relationship scandals and scandal videos to make cases against me and my family.”
“He was told he would be fired if he didn’t make these cases to feed non-stop lies to the media to kill our character.”
