ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday issued non-bailable arrest warrants for former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to ensure his presence at an upcoming hearing of the Al Azizia corruption reference on September 22.

The court was looking into Sharif’s request for exemption from court appearances since he is not in the country, having flown to the United Kingdom last November after he was released on bail from a seven-year prison sentence on medical grounds.

During the hearing, his lawyer Khawaja Haris said that Sharif could not return to Pakistan since his doctors had advised him against traveling.

However, the court observed that the former prime minister had neither undergone a surgery nor he was in a hospital for medical treatment.

Sharif, who dominated Pakistani politics for three decades, was convicted in a corruption reference, though he denies all such charges against him and describes them as politically motivated.

Earlier this month, the IHC said it did not want to declare him an absconder and was giving him “one more chance to surrender.”

Reacting to the development, Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders told journalists outside the Parliament House that the government was mocking the illness of their leader, adding that the former prime minister was unwell but would return to the country after his medical treatment was complete.