A petition was filed with the Islamabad High Court in Pakistan on Friday to prevent the expected issuance of a diplomatic passport to Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
The plea also sought directives to immediately arrest Nawaz Sharif upon his return to Pakistan from London, according to a report published by Dawn on Friday.
Nawaz, who is convicted in a corruption case, has been living in London on the pretext of ill health since November 2019, when the Lahore High Court had allowed him to leave the country for four weeks for medical treatment.
Shehbaz Sharif, his younger brother and the incumbent prime minister of Pakistan, gave an undertaking that the Nawaz Sharif would return within the stipulated time. Later, Nawaz sought extensions to prolong his stay in London on medical grounds.
A lawyer, Advocate Naeem Haider Panjutha, filed a petition in the court on Thursday, referring to media reports that said Nawaz was being issued a diplomatic passport on the instructions of newly-elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. He specified that the instructions for the issuance of the diplomatic passport were given to the interior and foreign affairs secretaries.
The petitioner contended that as Nawaz was "a court absconder who was convicted by learned NAB (National Accountability Bureau) Court for corruption ... it is violative of law, a mockery of the justice system and disgrace to the nation if a diplomatic passport is issued to a convict".
He prayed the court to prevent the issuance of a diplomatic passport to Nawaz, direct the Establishment Division secretary to arrest him immediately upon his arrival in Pakistan and produce him before a court.
"During the pendency of this petition, [a] diplomatic passport shall not be issued to" Nawaz, the petitioner requested.
Islamabad High Court’s Chief Justice Athar Minallah will hear the petition on April 18.
