NAB likely to issue arrest warrants against Sharif family for skipping court proceedings in future

The national accountability court (NAB) in Pakistan will most likely issue bailable or non-bailable arrest warrants for the former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, and his family members if they do not turn up in court after receiving two summons.

The accountability court again has issued summons to Sharif and his family members asking them to appear on September 26 after they failed to appear at today's hearing in connection with the Supreme Court-mandated corruption references.

The entire family had gone to London to be with Kulsoom Nawaz, who is recovering after a surgery. Maryam, who had led the NA-120 by-election campaign on behalf of her mother Kulsoom Nawaz for over a month, left for London on a foreign airline flight hours after her mother won the by-polls with over 61,000 votes.

"The Sharifs are anticipating the outcome of these references, therefore, they have no plans to appear before the accountability courts," the PML-N leader said.

A PML-N leader close to the Sharif family had told Dawn that "Nawaz Sharif and his children will not appear before the accountability court and they are likely to skip all the proceedings of the accountability courts."

The NAB had ordered that the family should appear before the court on September 26, directing that the summons be dispatched to the Sharif family's London address. Maryam Nawaz and her husband retired Captain Muhammad Safdar left for London on Monday to meet the rest of the family there.

During the court proceedings, the NAB prosecutors told the court that they were not allowed entry into the Sharif family's multiple homes and had to hand the summons to the guards, the Dawn reported.

The NAB prosecutor informed the court that the security officer said Hussain and Hasan Nawaz had instructed him not to accept the summons. He added that the summons was sent to the correct address.

PML-N leader Asif Kirmani also told the court that Kulsoom is scheduled to undergo another surgery in the next couple of days, therefore an exact date for the family's return cannot be ascertained.

"We had exercised restraint and not issued arrest warrants for members of the Sharif family after they refused to join the investigation," an NAB official said.