An accountability court on Saturday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to decide as per law an application by the family of Jang Group editor-in-chief Mir Shakilur Rehman to visit him daily. Mir Shakil is on 12-day physical remand in a case of 54-kanal land allegedly allotted to him by the then Punjab chief minister Nawaz Sharif in 1986.

His son Mir Ibrahim, mother and wife filed the application, saying that Mir Shakil being an old and sick person needed regular medication and other facilities for the safety of his health. The applicants said Mir could suffer irreparable loss if they were not allowed to see him on a daily basis.

The NAB accused Mir Shakil of obtaining policy exemption of 54 plots in Johar Town illegally. It said the allotment of the land had been carried out in connivance with the then chief minister Nawaz Sharif unlawfully.

His counsel Aitzaz Ahsan argued before the court that the transaction of the land took place between the accused and real owners and that could not be taken as an offence as exemption of the plots was their right under the policy for development of Johar Town. He urged the court to acquit his client from the case.