LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) extended on Tuesday pre-arrest interim bail of Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz till Nov 20 and restrained the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from arresting him.

Mr Shahbaz appeared before a two-judge bench, however, his lead counsel Azam Nazir Tarar was not available.

A lawyer told the bench that Mr Tarar was out of country to attend a conference. He asked the court to extend the concession of bail already granted to the petitioner.

The bench, headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, allowed the request.

PML-N workers were also present on the court who chanted slogans in favour of their party leaders.

On the last hearing, petitioner’s counsel argued before the bench that NAB initiated inquiries against his client into the cases of Punjab Saaf Pani Company, Ramzan Sugar Mills and assets beyond means.

He also questioned the jurisdiction of the anti-graft watchdog to probe into the matters.

He said the petitioner appeared before NAB investigation teams and provided them with all the required information and documents.

He said NAB summoned a person in one case but made arrest in another case as it did the same with Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif, father of the petitioner.

The counsel said there were serious apprehensions that NAB might arrest the petitioner too at the time of his appearance in inquiry.

The bench allowed the bail to Mr Shahbaz subject to furnishing of two surety bonds of Rs1,000,000 each.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018