Nawaz Sharif granted interim bail in Al-Azizia reference on medical grounds till Tuesday.

ISLAMABAD -- A two-member bench comprising Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani on Saturday granted bail on medical grounds to former premier Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in the Al Azizia reference till Tuesday. The court ordered the legal team of Nawaz Sharif to submit two surety bonds of two million rupees each to the court.

Meanwhile the Two-member bench of IHC headed by Justice Aamer Farooq and comprising Justice Mohsin Akhrar Kiyani will hear the matter of Nawaz Sharif's bail application on Tuesday.

The development came shortly after National Accountability Bureau (NAB), in its response to the IHC cited humanitarian grounds and said that it has "no objections to bail being granted".

The court instructed that two surety bonds worth Rs2 million each be submitted to secure Nawaz's release. Nawaz, a day earlier, had also secured bail in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case.

A plea had been filed by PML-N President Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif seeking bail for his brother, Nawaz Sharif, in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case.

The court had earlier on Saturday accepted a request by Shehbaz to hear the bail application on same day, instead of Tuesday.

Nawaz's counsel regretted that Nawaz's health had not been taken seriously for a long time. "He was purposely taken away from jail to NAB. He was already in jail and could have been investigated there."

He claimed that his "medical treatment was not done and his doctor was kept away". The counsel demanded a probe into fears expressed by Nawaz's children of him "being poisoned".

He thanked the people for their prayers and the media for highlighting the matter which "sprung the government into action out of fear". He also expressed his gratitude to the court for having issued a "just" verdict.

During the course of the hearing, the chief justice remarked that the request for bail on medical grounds should not have been filed with the court to begin with, as the government has the authority to decide on such a matter.

Addressing the interior secretary, Chief Justice Athar Minallah said: "You have half an hour to ask the NAB chairman whether he will oppose the judgment or submit an affidavit (declaring he has no objections)."

Once the court hearing resumed after a brief recess, the chief justice made clear the fact that "if the government will oppose the request for bail, then [the court] will dismiss the request".

"However, if something happens to Nawaz Sharif...