CJP dismisses Sharif’s appeal for merger of references

Dr Asim allowed to fly abroad; death sentence of a man commuted after 28 years

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Saqib Nisar on Thursday dismissed deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s appeal for merger of the three references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against him and his family members.

Hearing the appeal in his chamber, the chief justice maintained the objections raised by the Registrar Office. He remarked that the option to review the verdict had already been provided to the Sharif family in the Panama Papers case.

The appeal was filed through Advocate Khawaja Haris who is also pleading the Sharif family’s case in an accountability court.



Asim’s plea

The Supreme Court allowed Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Dr Asim Hussain to travel abroad for medical treatment after receiving a reply from NAB regarding the removal of his name from the Exit Control List.

The petition was filed by Asim’s counsel Latif Khosa who reiterated frail condition of his client’s health.

A two-member bench, headed by Justice Mushir Alam and comprising Justice Qazi Faez Isa, heard the former petroleum minister’s petition.

Asim is accused of concealing assets, granting illegal allotments, misusing authority, carrying out land grabbing and fraud, and giving illegal contracts during his tenure in Sui Southern Gas Pipelines Limited. He is also facing a case in an anti-terrorism court.



Death sentence commuted

The Supreme Court overturned death sentence of a petitioner after 28 years on grounds of insufficient evidence.

A three-member bench, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, commuted the death sentence handed out to Muhammad Riaz to life imprisonment.

Riaz was charged with murder of a woman in Attock. The FIR of the case was registered in 1998.

The Lahore High Court had then given the accused death sentence. However, on Thursday, Justice Khosa stated that details of the case suggested that the issue was something else.

“There is a clear discrepancy between medical reports and the FIR,” Siddique Baloch, counsel for the petitioner, stated. He added that according to the FIR, two shots were fired but the medical report said there was one.

Baloch mentioned that the accused’s divorced wife was present during the murder but refused to testify before the court leading to insufficient evidence. Hence, the court commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment, spanning 25 years.



Benazir case

Separately, a two-member SC bench issued summons to former capital city police officer Saud Aziz and former deputy superintendent of police Khurram Shahzad in the Benazir Bhutto murder case.