The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing of a petition of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) challenging the recent amendment in the NAB Ordinance till October 18. Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial, heading the three-member bench which heard the case, remarked that the top court would look into the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance amendments as per the international standards and local laws. He asked the petitioner’s lawyer Khawaja Haris to point out the facts that how the amendments had impacted the basic rights of the public.
The CJP observed that the decisions were used to be taken in the cabinet and working development parties. Whether all the members of cabinet or committees should be named as accused on the decisions, he questioned and said if that were the case then who would take the decisions. He remarked that if everything was discussed by the parliament then the decision making process would slow down. He noted that the liquefied natural gas (LNG) case was prepared without going into the facts, adding that such agreements were signed at government level.
CJP Bandial observed that many bureaucrats were acquitted in the NAB references, though they had faced imprisonment. Justice Mansoor Ali Shah asked whether the accused, who had escaped from the NAB law, could be tried under any other law. The legislators were responsible to introduce the laws and bring changes in them, he added.
He asked whether it was not a violation of basic rights when the NAB law was introduced in 1999. Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan remarked that the amendments in NAB law could promote corruption as the same had permitted undue financial benefits.
Petitioner’s lawyer Khawaja Haris said that there was no other law to deal with the cases pertaining to assets beyond known sources of income. After the NAB law amendments, action against accused could be taken if availing of the financial benefit were proved against them.
