Pakistan awaits decisions in 3 high-profile cases
Supreme Court judge Eisa to appear before panel, ex-PM Sharif and Zardari to learn fate
Islamabad: All eyes will be on Pakistan’s Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) next week, as one of the country’s most senior judges appears before the panel in an unexplained wealth case.
Supreme Court Justice Qazi Faez Eisa is accused of illicitly acquiring three properties in London, which are registered in the names of his wife and children.
The SJC has fixed June 14 as the date for hearing of the case.
Besides, Justice Faez Eisa’s reference, decisions on bail pleas filed by former President Asif Zardari and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif are also expected during the week.
On the same day, lawyers from the country’s different bar councils and lawyers’ associations have called protests outside the Supreme Court building, in support of the senior judge.
They have called for Pakistan’s law minister and attorney-general to step down.
Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) is expected to decide the fate of Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and former PM Sharif as they have sought bail from the court in different cases.
The hearing for Zardari and Talpur was fixed for Monday as both have sought judicial relief from a possible arrest by the National Accountability Bureau, which has issued their arrest warrants in a matter pertaining to laundering of billions of rupees through fake accounts.
On the last date of hearing, May 30, the court had extended interim pre-arrest bail to the former president and his sister until June 10.
A division bench of the IHC comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani conducted the hearing of the petitions moved by the leaders of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and extended their bails after the NAB furnished the record of the case against them.
The same Islamabad bench is also taking up former PM Sharif’s post-arrest bail application in the Al Azizia reference, which he filed on medical grounds.
Sharif’s case is scheduled to be heard by the court on June 11, Tuesday.
In his bail petition former Sharif cited a medical report, which suggested “the multifarious diseases/ailments of the petitioner [Nawaz Sharif] are not only life-threatening, the threat to the petitioner’s life on account of these co-morbidities is bound to aggravate in case the petitioner is exposed to any physical or psychological stress”.