• PML-N legal team expects decision on appeals by January
• Analyst sees political setback if PML-N supremo goes straight to jail

LAHORE: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is slated to land in Lahore on Oct 21 is likely to face a host of legal challenges before embarking on his election campaign to rev up the PML-N’s prospects in the lead-up to elections due in Jan next year.

According to a member of the PML-N supreme leader’s legal team, the elder Sharif’s legal complication would not require lengthy proceedings, as in the Avenfield case, his co-accused — Maryam Nawaz Sharif and her spouse — have already been acquitted by a division bench of the Islamabad High Court.

Therefore, the IHC would take no time to allow Mr Sharif’s appeal in the Avenfield reference due to NAB’s failure to prove charges against Ms Nawaz and her spouse Muhammad Safdar. The IHC had already suspended his sentences in the Avenfield reference in 2018.

Similarly, in an appeal against his conviction in the Al-Azizia case, 60 per cent of proceedings had already been completed when Mr Sharif went abroad for medical treatment in November 2019, the lawyer said.

The lawyer seemed confident that Mr Sharif would be free of his legal worries by the time of polls as these proceedings would not take a lot of time.

And after getting done with these issues, there would be no restrictions on his participation in general elections, particularly after an amendment in the Elections Act reduced the span of disqualification under Article 62(i)(f) from lifetime to five years, he added.

About the chances of Mr Sharif going back to jail even after getting the absconding proceedings reversed, the lawyer said the PML-N leader can get bail on medical grounds as he still has health issues.

Earlier this month, the legal team filed Nawaz Sharif’s medical report in the Lahore High Court which said he still had “some residual anginal symptoms” which would require treatment in and out of Pakistan.

However, Advocate Khurram Chughtai said the legal challenges faced by the ex-PM were a little bit more complicated. For instance, the legal proceedings could go beyond Jan 2024 — the election month.

Speaking about his arrival, he said the PML-N leader would have to surrender before the law by submitting a surety direct­­ly to a court or a police official authorised at the airport.

“If he wants to make an immediate surrender, Mr Sharif can seek a protective bail from the high court of Lahore or Islam­abad before he lands,” the lawyer said, adding the IHC could dispense with the custody of Mr Sharif after withdrawing the warrants and restoring his appeals against the conviction in the NAB references.

But it would be an extraordinary relief which is “generally granted to politicians only”, he quipped.

In spite of these legal challenges, Mr Sharif will have to prove to his workers — by addressing the public gathering at Minar-i-Pakistan — that he “enjoys power”.

Pildat head Ahmad Bilal Mehboob said if the elder Sharif goes to jail straight from the airport, the party workers may perceive their leader as weak. He said addressing a public rally while on protective bail is “unlikely to cause any political backlash”.

In order for him to go to the UK for medical treatment in 2019, the Lahore High Court granted the elder Sharif bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case, while the Islamabad High Court suspended his sentence for eight weeks in the Al Azizia case. In the latter case, however, the court had said that the Punjab government should be approached for an extension in bail.

Due to the failure of Mr Sharif to return and become a part of his appeals against NAB convictions, the IHC in 2020 declared him a proclaimed offender. An accountability court of Islamabad, seized with the Tosha­khana case, declared him an absconder and ordered the confiscation of his assets.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2023