An apex court in Pakistan has rejected a bail plea of jailed former Islamabad’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday, further refused to grant Sharif a relief (release) over medical grounds.
According to NDTV news reports, a two-judge panel comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, in the Islamabad high court, has announced its ruling on Monday after Sharif’s appeal hearing was concluded last week. They said the bail application has been “dismissed”.
69-year-old Nawaz Sharif has been serving a seven-year prison sentence term alleged in the Al-Azizia Steel mills corruption in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail.
Several leaders from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) along with former foreign minister Khwaja Asif and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi were present inside the High Court when the verdict was announced by the judging panel.
Former PM Abbasi said: “We are disappointed by the decision because different panels diagnosed the disease (of Sharif) and recommended treatment. But we accept the verdict and will explore more forums to get a remedy.”
Former FM Asif said that “we will go for appeal against the verdict” which will further get filed in the Supreme Court of Islamabad.
Dozens of PML-N supporters were also present outside the court premises and raised slogans against the verdict.
Sharif has filed bail application, last month, via his counsel Khawaja Haris for a bail appeal on medical grounds as he has developed heart-related some medical complication in prison.