‘NAB references against the Sharifs are politically motivated’

LAHORE:

The Sharif family was given a clean chit by Lahore High Court in NAB references opened during the Musharraf era. The court ruled last week that the references could not be reopened.

Justice Sardar Shamim, who gave the order, was appointed referee judge for the case after Justice Sheikh Najamul Hassan bowed out on May 1, 2013.

Justice Shamim ruled that the references were politically motivated and could not be reopened after 12 years.

The then LHC chief justice, Umar Ata Bandial, had appointed Justice Hassan the referee judge for the case on April 9. He was asked to decide a split ruling in the case by Justice Khawaja Imtiaz Ahmad of the LHC division bench who was hearing the matter. The point of difference in reference to the case, M/s Ittefaq Foundries (Pvt) Ltd Vs Federation of Pakistan, was: “Whether the court should quash the reference and subsequent proceedings on the grounds that the petitioners had not joined investigation; that civil litigation was pending between the parties and that the reference was the outcome of malafide intent; or whether the petition should be dismissed on the basis that wilful default was made out. In which case, this was an offence under the NAB Ordinance and no ground for quashment of the reference was made out; so the petitioners should be directed to approach the learned trial court and to make their pleas before the court.”

An accountability court had had dismissed NAB’s plea to reopen cases against the Sharif family. The NAB had challenged the order before the LHC. Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif, their father Mian Sharif, Shamim Akhtar, Ishaq Dar,  Kulsoom Nawaz, Hamza Shahbaz, Hussain Nawaz, Abbas Sharif, Sabiha Abbas, Maryam Safdar and Hudaibia Paper Mills secretary Ajmal Sibtain were nominated in references pertaining to Hudaibia Paper Mills and Raiwind assets.

Idara-i-Minhajul Quran

Lahore High Court restrained the registrar of the joint stock companies, Lahore, from cancelling the registration of Idara-i-Minhaj-ul-Quran. The judge also sought a reply in a fortnight to a petition filed by Muhammad Mustafa, the secretary general of the Idara. Mustafa had challenged the notice of cancellation issued by the registration.

The counsel for the petitioner said, on December 20, the registrar of the joint stock company had sent a notice accusing the Idara of misusing funds to purchase a bulletproof vehicle costing Rs14.3 million and a container.

Caretaker governor

Last week, the Lahore High Court summoned a notification for the appointment of the acting governor on a petition challenging his appointment. The court also issued notices to the federal and provincial governments for reply at the next hearing. The court was holding proceedings on a petition filed by Advocate Munir Ahmad. The petitioner said after Chaudhry Sarwar’s resignation as governor, the Punjab Assembly speaker was appointed caretaker governor. He said the move was unconstitutional. Ahmad said under the Constitution, the former governor could resume office if certain circumstances provided in the Constitution arose, or a new governor would have to be appointed. There is no provision for a caretaker governor, he said.

Walled City

The LHC sought replies from the Lahore DCO and the CCPO regarding the construction of multi-storey commercial buildings in the Walled City in violation of a stay order.

The court was hearing a contempt of court petition filed by a resident of Kashmiri Gate against illegal constructions in the Walled City. The court had earlier issued stay orders on the construction of 136 multi-storey buildings identified by the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA).

The petitioner’s counsel said that the construction of the identified buildings had not stopped even after the court passed the order.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2015.