960413

Govt may not

oppose Shahbaz's

bail plea

SIKANDER HAYAT

ISLAMABAD: The government may not oppose the bail application of Opposition Leader Shahbaz Sharif when it comes up for hearing in the Supreme Court on Sunday.

The two-member Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Bashir Jehangiri on last Wednesday summoned the Attorney General to appear on Sunday, April 14 in connection with three bail applications filed by Shahbaz Sharif.

A knowledgeable source said that in a recent meeting chaired by Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and attended among others by Minister of State for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Raza Rabbani and Attorney General Qazi Jamil the opposition leader's bail pleas came under discussion. Consequent to that meeting the Attorney General may not oppose granting bail to Shahbaz Sharif, a source said.

Last month, the Opposition MNA, Sheikh Rashid was set free when the government lawyers did not oppose his appeal against seven years' conviction in the infamous Kalashnikov case in the Lahore High Court (Rawalpindi bench) and his bail application in the apex court in the Lal Haveli firing case.

However, the move failed to send any positive message to the opposition, if it was intended to do so. The opposition protested in and out of the Parliament as loudly as it could have, had Rashid been acquitted and bailed out in a normal judicial course.

Shahbaz Sharif's counsel Chaudhry Mohammad Farooq, has submitted in the bail applications that doctors were not satisfied with the state of health of the opposition leader and expressed fears that it could lead to paralysis if he was not provided with adequate and prompt medical attention.

He was noted that Shahbaz was seriously ill, but his bail applications were not being heard by the full bench of the Lahore High Court because of the recent judgement of the Supreme Court relating to the appointment of judges in the superior judiciary.

In dropping the idea of opposing Shahbaz Sharif's bail applications the government is said to be motivated by the desire to improve its relations with the opposition; and more so now that tension between the two has thickened in the wake of the murder of PML(N) leader Javid Ashraf, in Lahore recently.

Shahbaz Sharif, younger brother of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, is detained in three separate cases, moved against the former directors of Ittefaq Foundries (Pvt) Ltd, including Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, Javaid Shafi, Tariq Shafi, Yousaf Aziz and others. The cases were filed on the complaint of Nazir Ahmad Chaudhry VP (HBL) Lahore for causing wrongful loss to the Bank.