Court accepts Nawaz's exemption plea

Accountability court hearing corruption references against the Sharif family on Monday accepted former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's plea seeking exemption from personal appearance before the court for one week. As soon as Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir started hearing following the announcement of Islamabad High Court (IHC) judgment which rejected Nawaz Sharif's plea to club together all references filed against him and his family members, Sharif's counsel Khawaja Haris submitted two separate exemption pleas for Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz before the court.
The former prime minister through his counsel requested the court for a change in the dates of his exemption from appearance. The court has approved Nawaz Sharif's plea and now he is exempted from appearing in the court from December 5 till 12. However, the court dismissed Maryam's request to change her exemption dates, stating that the court's earlier ruling on the matter will prevail.
The court had earlier allowed Maryam to be exempted from appearance from November 15 to December 15. The court also recorded the statements of prosecution witnesses Malik Tayyab Mukhtar and Umar Daraz and later Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain Safdar (retd) again arrived in the court for the second time the same day. The court adjourned the hearing till Tuesday (today).
Earlier in the morning, Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and son- in-law appeared before the court amid tight security arrangements. When the accountability court began hearing, Sharif's counsel Khawaja Haris informed the court that the IHC will announce its decision on their plea to club the three corruption references against Nawaz Sharif by Monday noon.
Sharif's counsel pleaded the court to adjourn the hearing until the high court's decision. The court then adjourned the hearing till 1:00pm on Monday. The court then began hearing of the references following the IHC order wherein Nawaz's plea was rejected. When the hearing began, the judge asked about Nawaz Sharif and Haris informed the judge that his client will appear before the court in a couple of hours.
Later, the former prime minister arrived once again to appear before the court along with his daughter and the court adjourned hearing till Tuesday. Talking to the reporters briefly after leaving the courtroom in the morning, Sharif said that it seems he will face disqualification due to disqualification case being heard in Supreme Court against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Imran Khan and Jahangir Khan Tareen.