Significantly, after over seven years of self-imposed exile, Hassan and Hussain Nawaz, the sons of former prime minister and supreme leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), returned to Lahore from London on Tuesday, family sources said.
When the brothers landed at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport, they were met with more stringent security. They were then taken under strict protection to the Sharif family’s home in Lahore, Jati Amra. Nawaz Sharif, the leader of the PML-N, personally greeted his sons at their ancestral house.
Upon their return, her brothers were welcomed by Maryam Nawaz, the Chief Minister of Punjab and a prominent figure in the PML-N. The brothers remembered their mother, Kulsoom Begum, by reciting Fatiha at her tomb.
A trial court in Islamabad last week delivered a noteworthy ruling by putting a hold on the permanent arrest orders for Hassan and Hussain until March 14. This ruling was made by Judge Nasir Javed Rana of the Islamabad Accountability Court I when the brothers’ applications were being heard by Qazi Misbah, their attorney.
In the Avenfield case reference of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Hassan and Hussain were named as parties involved, along with their brother-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar, sister Maryam, and father Nawaz Sharif. The brothers were instructed to appear several times throughout the trial by the accountability court, but they failed to show up, so the court declared them proclaimed criminals and issued perpetual arrest warrants.
A legal dispute surrounds the court’s decision to revoke Hassan and Hussain’s perpetual arrest warrants. In July 2017, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had made an intriguing development by acquitting three of the suspects in the case: Nawaz Sharif, Maryam, and Safdar. Despite this, advocate Qazi Misbah contended that the perpetual arrest warrants remained in place.
“On March 12, Hassan and Hussain Nawaz wish to travel back to Pakistan and appear in court. “We should postpone the execution of the permanent warrants,” Attorney Misbah stated at the hearing.
On the other side, NAB prosecutor Sohail Arif said that arrest warrants are only suspended by law when the accused appears in court. He emphasized that these warrants cannot be revoked in the absence of an appearance.
The accountability court chose to postpone Hassan and Hussain’s permanent warrants until March 14 in response to these reasons, giving them a chance to attend and comment on the court proceedings related to the Avenfield case reference.
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