Pak anti-graft court defers Sharif's indictment till Oct 19
(Eds: Updating with more details)By Sajjad HussainIslamabad, Oct 13 (PTI) An anti-corruption court todayadjourned the indictment of Pakistan's ousted prime ministerNawaz Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law in the Panama Paperscase till October 19 after lawyers created chaos in the court.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had registeredthree cases of corruption and money laundering against 67-year-old Sharif, his family members and Finance Minister IshaqDar in the Islamabad Accountability Court.
The cases were registered weeks after the Supreme Courtdisqualified Sharif as prime minister on July 28 in the PanamaPapers scandal.
As the court was about to begin the proceedings, lawyersstarted protesting in the courtroom of Judge Muhammad Bashiragainst security arrangements which had "restricted theirmovement in the court premises".
The lawyers threatened to hold up the hearing untilaction was taken against the police officers that hadallegedly manhandled them outside the court.
As a result of the ruckus, Judge Bashir left thecourtroom and later announced the postponement of the hearingtill October 19.
The decision came shortly after deposed Sharif's daughterMaryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar appeared incourt for hearing of the graft cases.
Sharif again failed to appear before the judge as he wasin London where he is busy looking after his ill wife Kulsoom.
A senior leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said Sharif had nominated a representative toappear before the court to face the indictment and deny thecharges.
Maryam, while interacting with reporters, expressedconcern over the unnecessary hurdles created for lawyers andasked the interior ministry to probe the incident.
"I don't know who created the problems for the lawyers.
It should have been avoided," she said.
TV footages showed that Maryam and Safdar were presentinside the court when lawyers created ruckus. They had alsoattended the previous hearing.
During the hearing on October 9, the court had decided toseparate the trial of Sharif's sons - Hussain and Hassan -from Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law.
It had also ordered to start the process of declaringSharif's sons proclaimed offender for failing to appear beforethe court.
Sharif's wife Kulsoom, who is suffering from throatcancer, has undergone three surgeries in the UK so far.
The anti-graft body NAB had frozen the bank accounts andseized properties of Sharif and his family members to putpressure on them to appear before the court.
Sharif had failed to appear on Monday before the court ashe was in London with Kulsoom.
The court had set October 13 as the date of hisindictment.
Sharif's family has alleged that the cases arepolitically motivated. He may be jailed after the indictment.
He had to step down as prime minister and president ofthe PML-N party after being disqualified by the Supreme Court.
Sharif was re-elected as the president of the rulingPakistan Muslim League-Nawaz on October 3 and immediatelydemanded that those who disqualified him should respect thepeople's mandate and democracy. PTI SH CPSZH.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.