Pak anti-graft body summons Sharif in 34-year-old case

Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is set to undergo a heart procedure next week in London, has been summoned by Pakistan's anti-graft body to appear before it on March 31 for allegedly misusing his power in a land case when he was chief minister of Punjab province in 1986.

Sharif, 70, has been in London since November last year for his treatment.

The higher court had allowed him to travel abroad for four months but the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government later did not allow extension to his stay and declared him an absconder'.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore has sent a questionnaire to the PML-N supreme leader in the land case involving Jang Group's Editor-in-Chief Mir Shakilur Rehman and summoned him to the bureau's office on Tuesday to record his statement.

Sharif's party,the PML-N, says the former premier is not well as he is undergoing treatment in London.

Nawaz Sharif has to undergo a heart procedure next week as his condition is not well, PML-N president and Sharif's younger brother Shahbaz Sharif said.

In a statement, Shahbaz, who is also the Opposition leader in the National Assembly, termed the NAB's case frivolous and asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to secure the bail of Shakilur Rrehman.

The NAB arrested Mir Shakilur Rehman on March 12 in a 34-year-old case related to 54-kanal land he allegedly acquired illegally in the tenure of the then chief minister of Punjab, Nawaz Sharif. He has been on physical remand till April 7.

Rehman says the property in question was bought from a private party and all evidence of this had been provided to the NAB, including the legal requirements fulfilled like duty and taxes. He has denied any wrongdoing in the case.

The NAB alleged that Rehman illegally obtained exemption of 54 plots each measuring one-kanal. It said the allotment of the land had been in connivance with then chief minister Nawaz Sharif (in 1986) against the exemption policy and the laws for monitory gains.

The three-time premier is undergoing treatment in London for coronary artery disease.

The Islamabad High Court also granted bail to Sharif in the Al Azizia Mills corruption case, in which the former prime minister was serving a seven-year jail term, clearing his way to travel abroad for medical treatment.