Produce Nawaz Sharif on Sept 22: Top court official to Pakistan foreign secretary

A high court official has asked Pakistan's foreign secretary on Thursday to produce former prime minister Nawaz Sharif before the court on September 22. 

Sharif, who was serving a seven-year sentence in a corruption case, is in London, UK since November last year after the Lahore High Court gave him the permission to go abroad for treatment as his health declined. 

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The 70-year-old was given eight weeks to return to Pakistan, but health complications made his visit longer, as per his lawyer. 

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On Tuesday, the Islamabad High Court issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against the ex-PM for failing to appear before the court as was directed. 

The HC's assistant registrar wrote a letter to foreign secretary Sohail Mahmood, ordering "the production of appellant (Sharif) through the High Commission of Pakistan in the United Kingdom" on September 22 by 11 am.

Pakistan-based Dawn reported on Friday that High Commission in London has received arrest warrants sent by the Pakistan government against Sharif. 

Sharif was sentenced to seven years in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case in December 2018 and a two-judge bench was hearing his appeal on the conviction. 

He, along with his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Muhammad Safdar was earlier also convicted in the Avenfield properties case in July 2018.