ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has directed the government to provide funds in two days for issuing an advertisement in local newspapers to summon former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

The IHC said that the hearing against Nawaz Sharif has been adjourned till 30 days after issuance of the ad. It said that it will declare him a proclaimed offender if he did not appear before the court on the next hearing.

The high court said this while conducting hearing of the case related to implementation of the court orders regarding the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) supremo’s non-bailable arrest warrant.

The ad will be posted outside Nawaz Sharif’s London and Lahore houses as well as different other places, said the court.

Earlier this week, a citizen had lodged an FIR against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif for his alleged sedition and treason.

The FIR registered at Shahdara police station also mentioned names of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leaders who endorsed Nawaz Sharif’s speeches at the party’s meetings of central executive and central working committees, including Raja Zafarul Haq, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Khurram Dastagir, Senator Gen (retd) Abdul Qayyum, Iqbal Zafar Jhagra, Maryam Nawaz, Ahsan Iqbal, Pervez Rasheed, Khawaja Asif, Uzma Bukhari, Rana Sanaullah, Marriyum Aurangzaib, Attaullah Tarar, Irfan Siddiqui and others.

The FIR had said that the PML-N supremo was a proclaimed offender under the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) law who was granted permission by the Lahore High Court to get treatment from abroad and the government had made no objection to the verdict on humanitarian basis.