LHC stops NAB from arresting Maryam Nawaz till April 12
LAHORE (92 News) - The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday restrained the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from arresting PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills and Raiwind land cases against her.
The high court’s judge Justice Sarfraz Dogar heard the bail petition of Maryam Nawaz today. The LHC judge stopped NAB to arrest Maryam Nawaz and directed NAB to submit its response and approved the interim bail of Maryam Nawaz till April 12.
Earlier, Maryam Nawaz appeared before LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan and requested the court to hold an urgent hearing of the notice sent by NAB to appear before it.
Maryam's counsel, Azam Nazeer Tarar said that she been asked by the corruption watchdog body to appear on March 26 in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills and Raiwind land cases. He also claimed that NAB has a 'tradition' of arresting people by inviting them to appear before it. He urged the court to hold a hearing on the matter today.
Maryam, in her petition, has further claimed that NAB wants to arrest her due to "pressure" from the government . She added that the watchdog was targeting political opponents over government's instructions.
She appealed to the court to approve a pre-arrest bail for her in the case.
The court after seeing the petition agreed to hold an urgent hearing of the case at 12pm today.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Punjab government approved the NAB's request to declare its Lahore office as red zone on March 25 and 26 due to PML-N Vice-president Maryam Nawaz’s appearance.
It is noteworthy here that the NAB had sought help from the Punjab government to safe Lahore office building on March 26 when Maryam Nawaz has been summoned.
According to the sources, the Punjab government accepted the request of the anti-graft watchdog body for making special security arrangements during the appearance of the PML-N vice-president on March 26.
The sources informed that the Punjab’s cabinet committee on law and order approved declaring the NAB office ‘red zone’ besides ordering the deployment of Rangers and police personnel outside the NAB Lahore office on March 25 and 26.
Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat said no one will be allowed to violate the law and strict action will be taken against those who breach the law and order situation or the coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Earlier, the anti-corruption watchdog had written a letter to the home ministry to deploy rangers on March 26 at NAB’s Lahore office in order to avoid any untoward incident during the appearance of Maryam Nawaz.
