ISLAMABAD: A plea by Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam to delay the verdict in the Avenfield reference case for seven days was dismissed by the accountability court on Friday.
The court will announce its verdict at 3pm now after initially reserving it until 12:30pm. The judge is present inside his chamber and issued the delay notice through his staff.
All eyes are set on the accountability court hearing the high-profile corruption cases against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family. Strict security arrangements, including paramilitary personnel, are in place at the Federal Judicial Complex, where the court is located. The roads leading to the complex have also been closed to traffic.
Moreover, the district administration has imposed Section 144 in the capital to discourage mass gatherings.
Plea to delay verdict dismissed
As the hearing went under way, Judge Mohammad Bashir heard Sharifs’ request, submitted on Thursday, requesting the trial court to postpone the verdict till he is back in the country next week.
After submitting Begum Kulsoom Nawaz’s medical report, Maryam’s counsel Amjad Pervez argued that the law stipulates the presence of the accused when the verdict is read out. After the prosecution opposed any delay at such a late stage of the trial, the judge reserved his verdict and adjourned the hearing for an hour.
Later, the court dismissed Sharifs’ plea and set 12:30pm as the time for announcing the verdict. However, that deadline was later pushed for two hours.
Prior to the verdict, Maryam took to Twitter, urging the “PML-N’s lions” not to get unsettled no matter what the verdict.
“All of this is not new for your Nawaz Sharif, he has faced exile, disqualification, and life imprisonment [sentence] in the past,” she said further in the series of tweets.
Reports from London stated that the former premier will hear the verdict at the Avenfield apartment and then proceed to visit his ailing wife at Harley Street Clinic.
Nawaz and Maryam have been in London since June 14 tending to Nawaz’s wife Kulsoom, who is under medical treatment there, while Nawaz’s son-in-law, Capt (r) Safdar, is in Mansehra campagning for the July 25 election.
Speaking to voters today, Safdar said he does not fear any verdict against him, adding that he will be exonerated in the court of public opinion.
