Sharif granted bail in 2nd corruption case till Oct 29

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has granted bail on medical grounds to ailing former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on medical grounds in the Al Azizia corruption case till October 29.

The IHC's move on Saturday came a day after the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday granted bail to Sharif also on medical grounds in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills corruption case, Dawn news reported.

Saturday's development came shortly after National Accountability Bureau (NAB), in its response to the IHC cited humanitarian grounds and said that it has "no objections to bail being granted".

The court instructed that two surety bonds worth 2 million Pakistani rupees each be submitted to secure Sharif's release.

Sources within the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) told Dawn news that Sharif will continue his treatment at Lahore's Services Hospital "as he is not in a condition to be shifted anywhere".

The family has expressed satisfaction at his treatment there, saying that it was "headed in the right direction", the sources added.

A plea had been filed by PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif seeking bail for his brother, Nawaz Sharif, in the Al Azizia case.

The court had earlier on Saturday accepted a request by Shehbaz to hear the bail application on Saturday, instead of October 29.

Nawaz Sharif was rushed to SIMS on Monday night after his personal physician raised an alarm about his deteriorating health.

On Tuesday, doctors at the hospital had termed his condition as "serious" despite the transfusion of three mega units of platelets within hours of his admission.

According to the medical tests carried out on Tuesday, the platelet count of the former premier had "dropped from 16,000 to a critical level of 2,000" when he was brought to hospital.

After a struggle of three days, a six-member medical board on Thursday confirmed that Nawaz Sharif was suffering from acute immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), a bleeding disorder, in which the immune system destroys platelets.

On Saturday, Nawaz Sharif suffered an angina attack, a doctor said, while dismissing reports that the former premier had a heart attack.

( With inputs from IANS )