SC summons Ishaq Dar to court, assures him of protective bail

Reassuring the former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar that he will be issued a protective bail, the Supreme Court (SC) has summoned Dar to court and has given him till evening to submit his reply.

Resuming the hearing pertaining to the nomination papers of Dar on Tuesday, the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar asked the whereabouts of the former finance minister. When he was informed by Dar’s counsel Salman Aslam Butt that Dar was ill and currently in London, the CJP replied that a person could not be sick for this long, local media reported.

Saying that SC cannot issue a notice to Dar again, the CJP has given Dar’s counsel time till 8pm in the evening to submit Dar’s reply.

SC summons Ishaq Dar over Senate nomination papers’ approval

On March 9, Pakistan Peoples Party candidate Nawaz Pirzada had challenged the senate membership of Dar by filing a petition in the top court. In his petition, Pirzada stated that Dar had been declared as a proclaimed offender by an accountability court and therefore, he could not be elected as a Senate member.

On March 3, Dar had won a technocrat seat as a Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz backed independent candidate.

Dar has been absconding his corruption hearing since last year. The National Accountability Bureau has filed corruption reference against Dar for owing assets beyond his known source of income, after the Panama Papers revelation.