ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday dismissed a petition against the announcement by the prime minister to issue a diplomatic passport to his brother and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif.
Earlier in the day, the IHC reserved its verdict on the petition and said it could not decide on the matter without having any evidence in this regard. The court said that the petitioner could not provide any notification to prove his claim.
The court while rejecting the plea also imposed a fine of Rs5,000 against the petitioner.
“It is mandatory for an absconding convict to surrender himself to jail authorities,” the court said in its verdict.
On April 15, a petition was filed in the IHC by Naeem Haider who asked the court to ensure the arrest of Sharif upon his return. “Nawaz Sharif is an absconding convict and therefore authorities should be barred from issuing a diplomatic passport to him,” it said.
The petitioner — while making Sharif, interior and foreign secretaries as respondents in the case — asked the Islamabad High Court to take up the matter today and issue arrest warrants for the PML-N supremo.
The registrar IHC admitted the petition and formed a bench for the hearing to be headed by Chief Justice Athar Minallah.
Shehbaz Sharif had directed the interior ministry to issue a diplomatic passport to his elder brother.
Shehbaz after assuming charge of his office got a briefing from the diplomatic staff about the issuance of a passport to Sharif. Pakistan’s high commission in London was directed to issue diplomatic passports to Sharif and former finance minister Ishaq Dar.
However, the diplomatic staff said only Sharif can be issued a diplomatic passport, not Dar, on which Shehbaz directed to issue a regular passport to Dar.
