• Two-member bench to conduct hearing of appeals.
• Court’s registrar’s office issues security circular.
• No unrelated person allowed entry in court, circular states.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif will attend the hearing of the appeals against his conviction in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption references at the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday.

The IHC, on November 17, fixed the hearing in the graft references which will be conducted today by a two-member division bench headed by IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb.

Meanwhile, the court’s registrar’s office has issued a circular pertaining to the security situation ahead of the hearing, directing the Inspector General of Police Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Dr Akbar Nasir Khan as well as the federal capital’s administration to ensure security arrangements.

“In order to ensure that regular cases are not affected and the litigants/leamed counsels appearing in the Islamabad High Court are not disturbed, the ICT Administration/DC/DM and IGP Islamabad shall ensure that proper administrative and security arrangements are made so as to maintain decorum of the Hon’ble Court,” the circular read.

The circular stated that no unrelated person will be allowed to enter the court, while entry into the courtroom will be subject to passes issued by the registrar’s office.

It added that the counsels for the appellant in the above cases are also required to submit a list of not more than 15 lawyers and people, for issuance of entry passes. Meanwhile, the offices of the attorney general as well as the advocate general of Islamabad can submit a list of five law officers each, with a total of 10 people allowed in the courtroom.

The court will not allow more than 30 journalists in the courtroom to attend the proceedings, it added.

Earlier, the PML-N supremo’s appeals were dismissed by the same court after he travelled abroad on account of seeking medical treatment. Sharif returned to the country recently after obtaining protective bail in the cases.

Subsequently, he surrendered before the court, after which his appeals were restored. The National Accountability Bureau also raised no objection to granting bail to the PML-N leader and reinstation of his appeals.

Sharif was sentenced to seven and 10 years in prison by an Islamabad accountability court in the Al-Azizia and Avenfield references, respectively, in 2018. In his appeals, he requested the IHC to set aside the trial court’s decisions. His daughter Maryam Nawaz and her husband Captain (retd) Safdar, who were convicted as co-accused, already have been acquitted by the appellate court.