Pakistan's former PM's corruption trial adjourned

A high court in Pakistan has adjourned the trial of Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday, Dawn newspaper reported.

The judge said he would need to review orders from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and delay the hearing until November 7.

The charges in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) court are linked to London properties the family owns that were revealed in the leaks involving offshore companies owned by prominent international figures.

Nawaz Sharif was forced out of Pakistan by the Supreme Court in July over a scandal leaked from the 2016 Panama Papers, and had been facing an arrest warrant for failing to appear at hearings since early October.

Sharif became the 15th prime minister in Pakistan's 70-year history to be ousted before completing a full term.

Before arriving in Islamabad on Thursday, he spent most of his time in London, where his wife is receiving treatment for cancer. 

The high court also ordered the NAB to investigate and conduct a trial into the Sharif family's wider finances, including the London properties.

Sharif and his supporters have denied the allegations and hinted at a political conspiracy driven by the powerful military.

"I am going to Pakistan despite (my wife's) chemotherapy to appear in a bogus case," Sharif told media in London.

"Pakistan's system has contradictions ... all this must be changed, now is the time to change it," Sharif added.

In Islamabad, Sharif said nothing to media outside the court, but his son-in-law Muhammad Safdar also hinted at a conspiracy.

"Till the time the courts are ... free from the fear of some other people, I can't expect any fair trial from this court," Safdar said outside the court.

Sharif nominated  Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as prime minister days after his ousting, and said his younger brother Shahbaz, currently the chief minister of Punjab province, would eventually succeed him.

Pakistani media has said the party plans to keep Sharif as a central figure during campaigning for a general election due to be held sometime next year, despite the Supreme Court barring him from holding office.