Zardari felicitates Nawaz Sharif after grant of bail

Islamabad: Former president and Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday felicitated former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif on his bail. In his message, Asif Zardari also felicitated the PML-N leaders and party workers on Sharif’s  bail. The PPP co-chairman said that Sharif’s illness is a cause of concern. Earlier, Supreme Court had granted bail to former premier Nawaz Sharif for six weeks against a surety bond of Rs5 million in a petition filed on medical grounds in Al-Azizia corruption reference; however, with a restriction that he cannot leave the country. Sharif’s defence counsel Khawaja Haris pleaded with the court to grant his client bail as he would need eight weeks for medical treatment, but the court accepted his bail for only six weeks. A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa – also comprising of Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Yahya Afridi – presided over hearing of Sharif’s appeal against a Feb 25 Islamabad High Court (IHC) decision to reject his bail on medical grounds. Dr Lawrence’s letter, written to Sharif’s personal physical Dr Adnan, had been submitted in court. The letter, submitted by Sharif’s lawyer Khawaja Haris, included Nawaz’s medical history from 2003-2019. However, Justice Khosa remarked that the letter has been written for a person named ‘Adnan’ and not the court. “What is the legal value of this letter?” he asked, adding that the letter was a private correspondence between “Person A and Person B”.