SC judges excited about World Cup Semi-final match

A Supreme Court bench expressed its excitement on Tuesday over the T20 World Cup semi-final between Pakistan and New Zealand on Wednesday (today) with Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial saying that he looked forward to “receiving good news” from the cricket team.

The topic of cricket match rose, while a three-judge bench led by Chief Justice Bandial, was hearing the petition of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), challenging the latest amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO).

Towards the end of the hearing, government lawyer Makhdoom Ali Khan urged the apex court not to schedule the next hearing on Wednesday (today) afternoon because Pakistan would be playing the World Cup semi-final match against New Zealand at that time. He said Pakistan playing the semi-final was no less than a miracle.

This brought a smile to the face of the chief justice, who asked the lawyer when the semi-final match would be played. “If you ask, we will install a screen outside the Supreme Court for you to watch the match,” the chief justice told the lawyer. He added he hoped for “good news” from the team.

However, Khwaja Haris, the lawyer for the PTI chief Imran Khan, opposed the government lawyer’s request, saying that enough time had lapsed. Sitting on the bench, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah told Haris it was just one day. The chief justice said that further hearings would be held on Wednesday and to be wrapped up early.

Sitting on the bench, Justice Ijazul Ahsan said that the Pakistani cricket team reaching the semi-finals was truly a miracle. The courtroom broke into laughter when Justice Mansoor Ali Shah told the PTI lawyer, Khawaja Haris: “If you don't mind, you will give arguments [and] we will watch the match.”

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Earlier in the day, Haris presented his arguments on the petition. He referred to a United Nations resolution against corruption that Pakistan had signed. He added that the recent changes to the law would be a violation of the resolution.

However, Justice Shah asked if an international resolution could be used to stop parliament from legislating. Justice Ahsan raised the question, of why favouritism was shown under the new NAB laws without any explanation. He also asked If bribes were allowed in the future, would no one stop it.

The bench also said that there was no crime in a third party benefitting from the new amendments. The chief justice pointed out that Haris’ arguments made it seem like Pakistan was a “jungle” where no “rule of law” existed and adjourned the hearing till Nov 9.

Meanwhile, in a separate case, the bench heard the bail application of Sindh Assembly Speaker Siraj Durrani and others accused in a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reference. The lawyers for the accused withdrew the bail applications, saying that they would not approach the lower courts in view of the NAO amendments.

The chief justice asked if the case against Durrani involved money less than Rs500 million. The lawyer replied that the amount was less. However, the NAB prosecutor said that the amount runs into billions of rupees. The chief justice said that if the bail plea could be heard in accountability court then it should be filed there.