PPP on hot streak before superior courts

Dr Asim’s bail is most recent in series of favourable judgments after tough time under Chaudhry bench

ISLAMABAD: The ongoing year has been one of relief for the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) as far as the superior courts are concerned.

The PPP leaders had faced a tough time at the hands of the judiciary during the era of former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, which also coincided wither their term in the Centre, be it from old corruption cases being revived against the senior leadership or brand new scams.

Interestingly, when Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was initially deposed from his post by General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, the PPP played a pivotal role in his restoration. Senior PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan had led the lawyers’ movement and appeared as the CJP’s counsel in the apex court.



At the beginning of lawyers’ movement, PPP lawyers Sardar Latif Khosa, Zamurd Khan, Aitzaz Ahsan and Haroonur Rasheed were brutally beaten by the police, which intensified the movement. Likewise, several PPP workers were among the 48 people killed in violence in Karachi on May 12, 2007.

The first rift between the PPP and superior courts occurred when the apex court suspended the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) on October 12, 2007.

Later, the confrontation between the PPP and the superior courts intensified after the court’s December 16, 2009 order declaring the NRO null and void and directing the government to send a letter to the Swiss government to reopen cases against then-president Asif Ali Zardari.



In the meanwhile, the CJP formed a special bench for the implementation of the NRO judgment. The proceedings of this bench had profound repercussions, including sending former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani packing after finding him guilty of contempt of court.

Several other officials including two attorneys general, one law secretary and a NAB chairman also went home due to NRO case.

The apex court had also initiated contempt of court proceedings against several PPP leaders including Gilani, Babar Awan, Rehman Malik, Taj Haider and Sharjeel Memon in different cases.

Interestingly, these contempt cases against PPP leaders were not been taken up by the apex court after the retirement of Justice Chaudhry.

Winds change

Just after 2017 rolled in, good tidings came for the PPP as Sardar Latif Khosa successfully got the name of accused currency smuggler and fashion model Ayyan Ali removed from the Exit Control List (ECL), allowing her to go abroad.

The bench discarded the interior ministry's appeal to keep model Ali's name on the ECL and upheld the Sindh High Court's verdict to remove her name from it. Similarly, the Islamabad High Court on March 20 acquitted the former federal minister for religious affairs Hamid Saeed Kazmi in the Hajj corruption case. Khosa was also the counsel in this case.

Then on March 30, the Sindh High Court granted bail to PPP MPA Shajeel Inam Memon in a NAB case. Earlier, Memon had fled abroad to escape arrest. Farooq H Naek argued on his behalf. Naek was also the counsel for Asif Zardari and got the former president acquitted in nine corruption cases.

In March, the SHC granted bail on medical grounds to PPP leader Dr Asim Hussain in two corruption references worth Rs479 billion. He had been detained for more than one year.

SC allows Dr Asim to go abroad for medical treatment

The top court on Tuesday also allowed Asim to go abroad for a month for medical treatment and ordered that his name be temporarily removed from the exit control list (ECL).

A three-judge bench headed by Justice Dost Muhammad Khan took up Dr Asim’s petition requesting that his name be removed from the ECL.

After hearing the arguments, the court gave him one month’s permission to go abroad and receive medical treatment on a surety of Rs6 million. However, the bench asked the trial court to continue the trial in his absence.



It also set aside the SHC order wherein Dr Asim’s plea for the removal of his name from the ECL was turned down.

The bench expected that Dr Asim will fulfil his commitment to the court and return to Pakistan within a month. It said that one of the co-accused in the same case was allowed by NAB to go abroad for business purposes, adding that medical experts had also opined in favour of allowing Dr Asim to proceed abroad for treatment.

The bench remarked that NAB was ruining its own reputation and if the bureau was putting its heart into its work, the case would have concluded by now. The court also rejected NAB’s appeal against Dr Asim’s bail in two corruption cases.