Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday challenged the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case revolving around a secretly filmed video of former accountability court judge Arshad Malik, who convicted the Pakistan Mulsim League – Nawaz (PML-N) supremo in the Al-Azizia corruption reference.
In his petition, Nawaz contended that the apex court order “is without jurisdiction as it impinges upon the jurisdiction of the learned Appellate Court by pre-judging the issues that may or were/are likely to come before it for adjudication in the appellate jurisdiction under National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999 in due course.” The petition also objects to the Supreme Court decision to pass a ruling without providing Nawaz an opportunity of a hearing, stating that it is violative of the constitutional guarantee that all citizens will be treated in accordance with the law. “Passing an order with respect to a matter that specifically relates to the rights or interests of a litigant in pending litigation without providing him an opportunity of a hearing is tantamount to depriving him of his right to the protection of the law,” the petition read.
Another point raised in the petition is that certain directions in the court order ‘constitute micromanaging the judicial functions of the Appellate Court’. The PML-N leader sought the withdrawal of the SC judgement under Article 188 of the constitution that empowers the top court to review its judgments and orders.
In August, a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa had disposed of a set of identical petitions in the video case and ruled that the clip could only become evidence if its authenticity was established. The court had also laid down strict standards for the admissibility of video/audio evidence before the court of law.
Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday postponed proceedings into a petition pertaining to the Al-Azizia reference and former accountability court judge Arshad Malik video case. The petition had been filed by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in which he had asked the court to review his sentence in the Al-Azizia case in light of the new information that had come to light.
At a hearing held to review the petition, the counsel for former prime minsiter, Khawaja Haris, took the position that the court should establish facts of the case before proceeding further. Haris added that the court also needs to decide whether the previous bench had conducted a fair trial into the Al-Azizia reference against his client. Justice Mohsin Akhtar Siddique said the court will look into how the events that took place after the verdict had any bearing on the court verdict. The court also issued a notice to the National Accountability Bureau in this regard, and afterwards postponed proceedings into the case for two weeks.
