Nawaz Sharif's exemption plea rejected

Islamabad : An accountability court in Pakistan rejected country's former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's plea seeking seven-day exemption from personal appearance in the Avenfield case.

The court, however, has granted an exemption only for a day.

Judge Mohammad Bashir said the Sharif family could file a new application for further exemption if they failed to make it by the next hearing due to unavoidable circumstances, reported the Dawn.

Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz are scheduled to appear before the court on April 23 for the hearing.

Both Sharif and Maryam are in the United Kingdom (UK) since early this week to see former first lady Kulsoom Nawaz at a London hospital.

"A daughter cannot look after her ailing mother and the thrice-elected prime minister cannot take care of his sick wife," Maryam retweeted a post on Twitter.

According to the Express Tribune, Sharif told reporters in London that he wanted to spend maximum time with wife Kulsoom.

On a related note, Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has decided to produce its Operations Director General Zahir Shah as a new witness in the Avenfield properties case against the Sharif family.

To date, the statements of all the witnesses in connection with the London flats case have been recorded.