IHC to take up Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ahsan Iqbal's bail pleas today.

ISLAMABAD -- The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will take up on today (Monday) bail pleas filed by former premier and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senior Vice President Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and PML-N Secretary General and former interior minister Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhry.

In separate hearings, a two member bench comprising IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Lubna Saleem Pervez will decide on the post-arrest bail petitions filed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders.

Behind bars for over 190 days, Abbasi is being investigated for allegedly awarding a 15-year contract for a Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminal to a Qatari company in violation of rules and of causing losses to the national exchequer during his tenure as the petroleum minister in the cabinet of former prime minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.

The case, closed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in 2016, was reopened in 2018.

The bail plea filed by PML-N lawyer Barrister Zafarullah Khan argued that Abbasi was a vocal advocate of the supremacy of the Constitution, parliamentary democracy, fair electoral process and rule of law.

It added that the former prime minister was criticial of the incumbent government's incompetence and emphasised that he was imprisoned due to political views and...