Deadline ends for Sharif's sons to surrender

Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif's sons Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz have exhausted the deadline to surrender in connection with the three references filed against them on Friday.

According to the Dawn, on October 12, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had pasted the copies of proclamation order at the Model Town and Jati Umra residences of the Sharif family.

The NAB had given Hussain and Hassan, 30 days to appear before the Islamabad accountability court, failing which they would be declared proclaimed offenders (PO) and their properties attached.

The proclamation order had asked Hussain and Hassan to surrender and join the proceedings in the three references - Flagship Investment, Al-Azizia and Avenfield properties.

However, both sons of ousted prime minister continued to stay away from court proceedings.

On October 9, the NAB had declared Sharif's sons offenders for repeatedly failing to appear before it.

Earlier after appearing before the NAB court on Monday, when Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz was asked when her brothers would appear before the court, she said, "My brothers live abroad... the laws of here [Pakistan] don't apply to them."

The hearing was adjourned until October 13, when members of the Sharif family will be indicted.

On July 28, a five-judge larger bench of the Supreme Court, while disqualifying Sharif under Article 62(1) (f) of the Constitution had asked the NAB to file four references in the Rawalpindi accountability court within six weeks on the basis of the material collected and referred to by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) as well as that already available with the Federal Investigation Agency and the NAB.