SC summons PTI chief on July 24 in lawyer killing case

PTI chief has moved apex court against nomination; SC says petitioner must surrender before court to get relief

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court (SC) ordered Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief on Thursday to appear before the court on July 24 (Monday) in the matter pertaining to his application filed against his nomination in a case concerning the murder of a lawyer in Quetta.

Senior lawyer Abdul Razzaq Shar was killed on June 6 by unidentified people while on his way to court for an important hearing in the Balochistan High Court (BHC).

A day later, the police registered a case nominating the PTI chief in the first information report (FIR) on the complaint of the slain lawyer’s son.

Advocate Shar had submitted an application against Imran, seeking registration of a treason case against him for violating the Constitution.

However, the case could not be heard because of the absence of the bench, while members of the legal fraternity boycotted court proceedings against the killing of the senior lawyer.

The PTI chief had moved the apex court against his nomination in the case.

A three-member bench of the SC headed by Justice Yahya Afridi and including Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Justice Musarrat Hilali heard the application today.

"To get relief the petitioner has to appear in person and surrender before the court," remarked Justice Afridi.

The PTI chief's lawyer, Latif Khosa assured the court that his client could appear before the bench within an hour. However, Justice Afridi deemed it appropriate to wait for the government lawyer's reply and said it would suffice for the PTI chief to appear on Monday at 10:30am.

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However, the complainant's lawyer Amanullah Kanrani implored the court that the main issue was the PTI chairman's refusal to appear before the joint interrogation team (JIT) to probe into the incident.

Khosa responded by arguing that "we do not accept the JIT formed".

Upon this, Justice Naqvi urged Khosa to take into account "the seriousness of the matter at hand" before reiterating Justice Afridi's stance that the petitioner must appear before the bench.

Justice Afridi further inquired why the PTI chief had not approached the relevant forum for getting the FIR quashed first.

Khosa told the court that the matter was first raised at the BHC and the apex court has been approached only afterwards.

Justice Naqvi observed that a copy of the FIR was not attached to the application and noted that a key argument was missing from the plea as well. "Your application should state that the case against chairman PTI is baseless," he said.

He also wondered what the merit of the request was when the investigating officer (IO) has not nominated the PTI chief as the accused.

Khosa told the bench that the case was registered against his client on provisions pertaining to terrorism.

"The IO 's stance however is that the PTI chief is not cooperating with the investigation," observed Justice Naqvi.

On the claim that non-bailable arrest warrants had been issued against the PTI chief in this case, the Balochistan government's lawyer clarified that to their knowledge there were no such warrants against the former prime minister.

Justice Hilali went on to ask if the complainants still hold the PTI chief responsible as Khosa argued that the deceased lawyer's widow has said that the family does not think he had any involvement in the killing.

"Shar's step-son had filed the case against the PTI chief," argued Khosa.

On the other hand, Kanrani stated that he was the plaintiff in the matter and not the widow of the deceased.

Later, the case was adjourned until Monday.