A two-judge bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday dismissed a petition challenging the election of Shehbaz Sharif as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). The bench headed by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah and comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani dismissed the petition as non-maintainable. The court had earlier reserved the verdict after hearing arguments from the petitioner’s lawyer. Petitioner Advocate Riaz Hanif Rahi had contended before the court that Sharif, who is also opposition leader in National Assembly, was not eligible to serve as PAC chairman. He said issuance of his production orders by National Assembly speaker was also against the rules of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The lawyer of the petitioner argued that appointing Shehbaz as chairman of PAC was like ‘ridiculing the constitution’, thus IHC should dismiss the PML-N leader from the top post.
Published in Daily Times, January 23rd 2019.
