The apex court issued a written order on Tuesday for the arrest of Premier Ashraf, along with 15 other accused over the allegations. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
The Supreme Court on Thursday (today) will hear from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) the progress made for the arrest of Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf over corruption allegations in the rental power projects (RPP) case.
Addressing the former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Yasin Azad – who appeared before the court in a human rights case – Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Wednesday said that “dhols” were beating outside the court to force it into not hearing the RPPs case. But, the chief justice said, that he will hear the case “even if the sky falls down.”
The apex court issued a written order on Tuesday for the arrest of Premier Ashraf, along with 15 other accused over the allegations. The deadline to arrest them expired on Wednesday and NAB is supposed to submit a final report in this regard to the apex court today.
The case also took a new turn when Chief Justice Chaudhry, heading a three-judge bench, took notice of some remarks by federal ministers over the apex court’s written order for PM Ashraf’s arrest.
He also criticised the ministers for giving their opinions on the case without knowing the details.
Advocate Salman Akram Raja argued that the Supreme Court had conducted lengthy hearings into the RPPs case and NAB had limited options to not prosecute the accused, including Premier Ashraf. He claimed that NAB had no right to sideline the final and conclusive judgment of the apex court. “If someone is innocent in the case, he must prove it before the courts,” Raja added.
NAB Prosecutor General KK Agha told The Express Tribune a few days back that it was not necessary to arrest the accused in the case because the National Accountability Ordinance gave plea bargain powers to the country’s top anti-corruption body. However, Raja ruled out
the possibility of a plea bargain option in this case, arguing that Premier Ashraf never became a part of this process.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 17th, 2013.
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height of irresponsible behaviour
To clear the cloud spread on the Rental case at least the detail verdict of SC ( if any) be published . Arrest is not a punishment but an interim process of coming to justice hence the justification of arrest of PM is also to be given if the final verdict has not come (as appears from the Op Ed.) and final hearing is still to continue. The timing of arrest order is either unfortunate or gives reason to believe something else( which may be or may not be true) however there is no denial taht Judiciary has full poer to ensure / compel otehres not to hinder to complete the process of law to arrive at the conclusion.