The year of high-profile cases for Islamabad High Court

Islamabad’s two special courts handled some of the most significant cases this year redefining the political...

ISLAMABAD: The year 2019 has been a busy calendar year for the Islamabad High Court (IHC) as well as the city’s accountability court. The two courts witnessed some of the most high profile cases this year, which made national headlines and featured notable political figures including former President Asif Ali Zardari and Ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif among others.

It was also recorded as a relatively productive year for Islamabad’s special courts, which saw the induction of three new judges and the removal of Judge Arshad Malik from the accountability court on basis of misconduct. There was also a considerable decrease in the number of pending court cases this year. According to sources, until 2018 there were a total of 17,074 unresolved cases in the two courts, whereas by the end of 2019 the number had dropped to 15,693; clearing the backlog by 1,381 cases.

Islamabad High Court addressed a total of 9,400 cases over the course of the current year, while the two special courts together heard over 125 references for major embezzlement cases, which are still under review.  On the other hand,  IHC also granted post-arrest bails to a number of political heavyweights including Ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, former President Asif Ali Zardari, Ex-National Assembly member Faryal Talpur and former Minister of Finance Miftah Ismail; all of whom had their bails rejected at least once before they could be accepted by the high court.

It was also the year former President General Retired Pervez Musharraf was held accountable for high treason over his 2007 imposition of emergency rule in the country. However, the special court was barred from giving its verdict on the case, leading the former president to file a review petition in the Lahore High Court.

There were also several other pleas which were rejected this year by the special courts. These included the plea for Prime Minister Imran Khan’s disqualification, the plea against Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s sit-in, the plea against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) leader Abrarul Haq’s appointment as Chairperson Hilal Ahmar and the plea against Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Chairperson Shehbaz Sharif’s appointment as PAC Chairperson.

Other than that, cases still under hearing include the case of Fawad Chaudhry, the cases for PTI women MNA’s disqualification, Akram Khan Durrani’s case, the interim bail cases for Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah and Ex-Provincial Assembly Member Sharjeel Memon. However, according to details all said cases are to be finalised by the Islamabad High Court by next month.

Furthermore, this year, ministers Firdous Ashiq Awan and Sarwar Khan were also issued contempt of court notices by the IHC for behaviour that defied the authority, justice and dignity of the court. However, both notices were eventually withdrawn on the basis of unconditional apology and no serious punishments were announced.

On the other hand, the two accountability courts of Islamabad nominated former Prime Ministers Shaukat Aziz, Yousuf Raza Gilani, Raja Pervez Ashraf and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as suspects in various corruption cases. According to details, former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and former Federal Finance Adviser Miftah Ismail faced NAB references in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) import contract case. Whereas former Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf received the reference on basis of the Rental Power Project as well as the Nandipur Power Project. Former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani’s reference was on basis of the illegal advertisement contract and former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz received a reference against misuse of authority, which is still under hearing.

IHC issued National Accountancy Bureau (NAB) references against former President Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur for corruption cases worth Rs100 billion. So far, eight references have been filed by NAB against the former President and his sister, other than Director Omni Group Anwar Majeed, his son Abdul Ghani Majid and Sindh Government Officials and contractors. Judge Muhammad Bashir in court one and Judge Azam Khan in court two are responsible for hearing the various references, after the transference of the mega money laundering case from the Karachi Banking Court to the Islamabad Accountability Court, though the accused are yet to be indicted.