Panamagate in focus as judges return to capital

Sources say bench members will meet in coming week

ISLAMABAD: All five judges of the Supreme Court who adjudicated the Panamagate case will be back in Islamabad this coming week, raising expectations about the announcement of the much-awaited judgment reserved last month.

The top court reserved the verdict on February 23 with lead judge Asif Saeed Khosa observing that a short order was not possible due to the sensitivity of the case.

The past few weeks have made everyone, particularly politicians, very anxious as they are on tenterhooks waiting for the judgment to be announced. Politicians’ future course of action depends on the outcome of the judgment.



All judges who heard the case were in different registries of the apex court. “[The] main reason for the delay is that these judges could not hold a huddle  last week,” sources in the Supreme Court told The Express Tribune.

Another reason for the delay is that every judge on the bench is giving his individual input in writing, keeping in view the importance of the case. “Normally, one judge writes [a] judgment and his fellow judges endorse it. Here, every member of the larger bench is writing his own note,” the sources said. They told The Express Tribune that all members of the larger bench would hold a meeting in the coming week.

Last week, three of the five judges - Justice Khosa, Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh and Justice Ijazul Ahsan - heard cases in the Lahore registry. Justice Gulzar Ahmad was sitting in the Karachi registry while Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan was in the Islamabad registry.



Meanwhile, the Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaaf has started showing concern over the delay in the announcement of the judgment. PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry said that although they are aware that it’s not an easy task for the judges to give a verdict in a short period, the party believes that the verdict should be announced without further delay.

However, a senior PTI leader disagreed with the party’s reaction regarding the delay in the verdict.

Moreover, former Pakistan Bar Council vice-chairman Barrister Dr Mohammad Farogh Naseem rejected the PTI’s concern in this regard and said: “There is no delay in the verdict. Legally, the Supreme Court is not bound by any time duration regarding announcement of a judgment. However, the SC itself asked high courts to give ruling within three months after reserving it.”

“I have full confidence in every judge of the larger bench, as all are competent, and there is no doubt about their integrity,” he added.

Naseem said the judges write additional or dissenting notes in high-profile cases.The petitioners were unable to submit any document to establish that the London properties were directly owned by the prime minister.



However, the judges may raise a question about ‘conflict of interest’ in their judgment. “[The] chances of dissenting opinions on some points in the judgment cannot be ruled out.”

A senior official told The Express Tribune that the government has already devised different strategies to deal with any situation arising out after the judgment. Several senior members of the PML-N are admitting shortcomings in the legal strategy in the Panamagate case.

“I think the Sharif family did a big mistake by delaying the matter and not deciding on the Panama leaks controversy last year. Since April 2016, they had enough time to sort out the issue through various means but they unnecessarily delayed it,” says a member of the PML-N legal team.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th, 2017.