Wednesday 04 / June / 2025
Islamabad: Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Friday gave permission to a special plane booked to carry Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif to land in the country upon its arrival, ARY News reported.
ARY News is a Pakistani news channel. The CAA Director of Transport issued a notification in this regard.
PML-N Party leaders contacted a private aviation company to hire a private jet to bring Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan on October 21. The political party sought chartered plane services from the company from Dubai to Islamabad.
The PML-N has also acquired a private company's services to shower flower petals at the party's rally at the Minar-e-Pakistan following Sharif's return, as per ARY News.
The Cessna plane would be used for showering flower petals on the PML-N's rally venue and other parts of the city.
The CAA also issued a notification for using the private jet for showering petals in the city at 3:30 pm.
Nawaz Sharif on Thursday reached Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), ahead of his return to Pakistan.
Nawaz, who has been in self-imposed exile since 2019, left for London in the middle of his seven-year jail term on medical grounds. He will leave for Pakistan via Dubai on October 21.
Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has granted protective bail to Nawaz in the Avenfield and Al-Azizia cases until October 24, Dawn reported.
In July 2018, the ousted Nawaz Sharif was handed ten years in jail in the Avenfield properties corruption reference for owning assets beyond known income and one year for not cooperating with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which was to be served concurrently, according to Dawn.
His daughter and PML-N Chief Organiser Maryam Nawaz, had also been sentenced to seven years in jail in the case but was acquitted in September 2022 along with her husband retired Captain Safdar.
The Al-Azizia Steel Mills corruption reference pertains to the case in which he was sentenced to seven years in jail on Dec 24, 2018, and then taken to Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail, from where he was shifted to Lahore's Kot Lakhpat jail next day. He was also fined Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 1.5 billion and USD 25 million in the case, Dawn reported.
Nawaz was released from jail in March 2019, following which he left for London in November 2019 after the LHC allowed him to do so. The IHC declared him a proclaimed offender in both cases in December 2020.
PML-N lawyers moved the IHC on Wednesday seeking protective bail for Nawaz in these two cases, with NAB Special Prosecutor Afzal Qureshi saying that the accountability watchdog did not object to pleas moved by the elder Sharif.
IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hasan Aurangzeb took up the pleas on Thursday.
Nawaz's counsels, including former law minister Azam Nazir Tarar and Amjad Pervaiz, appeared before the court while NAB prosecutors Rana Maqsood, Qureshi and Naeem Sanghera were also present.
Subsequently, the IHC accepted the former prime minister's pleas, granting him protective bail and restraining the police from arresting him upon his arrival in the country on October 21, Dawn reported.
Dawn reported citing the court order that since the respondent had "accorded its consent and decided not to contest the petition, let the petitioner appear before this court on October 24".
"Meanwhile, he shall not be arrested on his arrival in Pakistan until he surrenders before this court," the order stated.
