Lahore High Court grants bail to ailing Sharif on medical grounds

TIL Desk/World/Lahore/ A top Pakistani court on Friday granted bail to jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif who was undergoing treatment after being diagnosed with an acute immune disorder. The 69-year-old Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo was rushed to the Services Hospital in Lahore from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) office late on Monday night after a massive drop in his platelet count.

A two-member bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC), headed by Justice Baqar Najafi, heard the petition of PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif seeking the release of his elder brother from the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on medical grounds in the money laundering case and accepted it.

However, Sharif will not be released immediately as the Islamabad High Court adjourned the hearing of his bail plea in a separate Al-Azizia steel mills case until Tuesday. The three-time premier’s lawyer Ashtar Ausaf told the court that his condition is “extremely serious” and he should be granted bail.