After spending the last four years in self-exile in the United Kingdom, Suleman Shehbaz, son of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, left for Pakistan with his wife and children.
On his way to Pakistan, Sulaman Shehbaz reached Saudi Arabia to perform Umra. He is expected to land in Pakistan on Saturday.
The development came after Suleman Shehbaz Wednesday filed an application in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking protective bail via his lawyer Amjad Pervez.
IHC approves application
The IHC on Thursday ordered Suleman Shehbaz to surrender before it on December 13 and barred authorities from arresting him till then.
IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq heard the case today and directed authorities not to arrest Suleman at the airport.
During the hearing today (Thursday), Suleman’s counsel Amjad Pervez told the IHC that his client had been abroad since October 2018, adding that all the cases were registered after that.
The court informed the lawyer that it could grant bail in absence of the petitioner.
At this, Pervez urged the bench to stop the authorities from arresting his client, adding that his client would reach Islamabad on December 11. He also shared Suleman Shehbaz’s air ticket with the court.
Suleman Shehbaz left Pakistan ahead of the 2018 general elections when several cases were made against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). He was also named in many cases along with his father, the current prime minister, his brother Hamza Shehbaz, and other Sharif family members.
The Assets Recovery Unit (ARU), headed by Imran Khan’s former accountability minister Shahzad Akbar, had Suleman Sharif investigated in London in Shehbaz Sharif’s money-laundering and misuse of public office case by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), but he was given a clean chit after two years of investigation by the UK’s top anti-corruption sleuths.
Suleman claimed he was forced to leave Pakistan after fake and manipulated cases were against him and his family in order to facilitate a new political order.
