NAB amendments: CJ directs petitioner to establish admissibility

ISLAMABAD: A three-member bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJ) Umar Atta Bandial, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, and Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan resumed hearing plea against the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) amendments.

The petition has been filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief, who has challenged the National Accountability (Second Amendment) Act 2022 passed by the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PMLN) led coalition government.

Upon the resumption of the arguments after yesterday’s adjournment, the petitioner’s counsel Advocate Makhdoom Ali Khan said that “Zia-ul-Haq disqualified the leaders of East Pakistan in the name of accountability. Such laws of the past produced the likes of Mujib-ur-Rehman”.

In response to this, the Chief Justice remarked that this is the real controversy in the case at hand. “We will need to see that who is being constitutionally targeted through these amendments”. while adding that “It also has to be seen how long this target can be kept inside”.

Speaking about the misuse of law and exploitation of loopholes, the CJ said that arbitration is being done for crimes involving mismanagement of billions of rupees. He said that there needs to be a level playing field so the general public does not suffer because of a few influential people.

Continuing with the point the CJ said, “Ask the Competition Commission how many people have created a monopoly on the economy”. To this Advocate Makhdoom Ali Khan concurred by citing the example of climate change, where the activities of the influential and the rich are impacting the vulnerable and the poor.

Supreme Court Justice Mansoor Ali Shah said that why are we debating on legislations instead of talking about fundamental rights? To this advocate Khan responded by saying that if the court starts looking at all such cases, even 24 hours in a day will fall short of time required for it.

The CJ inquired that whether these amendments are protecting the interests of public. “We cannot allow public’s money to be wasted on corruption. We need to look at these amendments in the context of the Constitution”.

Justice Shah said that the NAB amendments may better be left for the new parliament. “There will be new elections and the new assembly will be sworn in. Maybe they should look into this matter”. He said that these amendments have been challenged by someone who has himself ran away from the parliament.

The CJ said that apparently there was nothing as terrible in these amendments that would have warranted Supreme Court’s involvement. He directed Advocate Ali Khan to first present arguments on the admissibility of this case. “We will also listen to Khawaja Haris on this matter”, Chief Justice said. It is notable to mention here that Haris recently parted ways with PTI’s legal team, deciding not to represent its chief anymore in different cases against him in the courts.

The hearing was adjourned until tomorrow, August 31.