Nawaz moves IHC to revive appeals against convictions.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif yesterday moved the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking restoration of appeals against the accountability courts' verdicts in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia cases.

Nawaz's counsel Amjad Pervez filed the petitions in the IHC, requesting the court to hear the appeals on merit as earlier they were discarded for non-compliance when the PML-N supremo did not return from London after he was granted permission by the court in November 2019 to go abroad for medical treatment.

In the Avenfield petition, the PML-N chief maintained that he was sentenced in absentia on July 6, 2018 in the Avenfield reference as he could not attend a court hearing in view of his wife's ailment who was undergoing treatment and on the ventilator at a hospital in London.

Nawaz said his appeals against the Avenfield and Al-Azizia references were not dismissed on merit rather they were discarded for non-compliance.

The PML-N supremo implored the court in the petitions to restore the appeal 'to its original position along with all interim, incidental and ancillary orders connected therewith and the same may kindly decided on merits in accordance with law in the interest of justice'. Nawaz had signed the legal documents including appeals to be filed in the IHC on returning to Pakistan after four years of self-imposed exile in London on Saturday. The appeals were dismissed due to non-appearance of Nawaz in the IHC. In the Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference, Nawaz Sharif was...