LHC rejects Fawad's request to become party in Nawaz Sharif case.

LAHORE -- A division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday dismissed a plea filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry in which he requested to be made a respondent in a case concerning former premier Nawaz Sharif's return.

It may be noted that Nawaz left the country in 2019 after he had been successful in securing relief from courts over corruption cases in which he had been convicted.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) suspended his seven-year sentence over corruption charges in Al Azizia reference for eight weeks and granted his request to seek medical treatment abroad.

Similarly, an LHC division bench, headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, had granted bail to Nawaz on medical grounds in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case

Since then, however, the three-time prime minister has not returned to the country, leading various courts to declare him a "proclaimed offender" in 2020 and an "absconder" by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in 2020 and then later the IHC in 2021.

Fawad had sought the LHC's direction to implead him as a respondent in a petition wherein the PML-N supremo had been granted permission to travel abroad seeking medical treatment.

As Justice Ali Baqar Najafi commenced the proceedings on Thursday, he questioned...