Nawaz Sharif appears before accountability court for 13th time

A hearing of corruption references against former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and son-in-law, is underway in an accountability court in Islamabad, media reports said.

This is the 13th time the ousted prime minister is appearing before an accountability court.

Nawaz flew in with daughter Maryam Nawaz and her husband retired Captain Safdar from Lahore on Tuesday morning and made his way to court after a brief stay at Punjab House, Dawn.com reported on Tuesday.

A heavy contingent of police was seen stationed outside the court on their arrival.

Three witnesses are expected to record their statements in front of Judge Mohammad Bashir, who will hear the references.

A five-member bench of the Pakistan's Supreme Court on July 28 had directed National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file references against Nawaz and his children in six weeks in the accountability court and directed the trial court to decide the references within six months.

The Supreme Court also assigned Justice Ijazul Ahsan a supervisory role to monitor the progress of the accountability court proceedings.

The former premier and his sons, Hassan and Hussain, have been named in all three NAB references, while Maryam and husband Safdar have been named only in the Avenfield reference.

--IANS

qd/