ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani court on Wednesday ordered that advertisements be issued in newspapers to summon former premier Nawaz Sharif after his representative in London refused to receive the arrest warrant against him in corruption cases.
The Islamabad High Court was irked by the attitude of Sharif's representatives at his residence in London and ordered that the advertisements be posted in Dawn and Jang newspapers. The court directed the federal government to bear the cost of the advertisements and the additional attorney general Tariq Khokhar was asked to pay the fees within two days.
The order followed after an official posted at the Pakistani High Commission in London informed the IHC that a representative of Sharif had initially agreed to receive the arrest warrants but later changed his mind.
First Secretary of the High Commission Dildar Ali Abro deposed in a written reply that some Waqar Ahmed, identified as a secretary to Sharif's son, called him and informed him that he will receive the warrants at their Park Lane residence in London.
"It was agreed with Waqar that he would receive the warrants on September 23 at 11 am," Abro told the court, adding that "At 10:20am Waqar called me to apologise and declined to receive the warrants". Abro said that the mission's Consular Attache Rao Abdul Hanan was tasked to serve the arrest warrant and Ahmed was also informed about it.
Hanan, in his statement, said that he had initially gone to the residence of Sharif on September 17 at 6:35 pm to serve the warrants but a domestic employee of Sharif declined to receive the warrant. The IHC in its last hearing had directed Hanan to record a statement in the next hearing of the case via a video link.
The court last month issued non-bailable arrest warrants against Sharif during a hearing of his petition requesting exemption from appearing before the court. The three-time premier, his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Muhammad Safdar were convicted in the Avenfield properties case on July 6, 2018.
Sharif was also sentenced to seven years in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case in December 2018. But Sharif was bailed out in both cases and also allowed to go to London for medical treatment in November last year.