ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday filed three petitions in the Supreme Court of Pakistan to review the Panama Papers verdict which resulted in Nawaz’s disqualification.
The petitions pleaded the apex court to dismiss the petitions filed by Sheikh Rasheed, Imran Khan and Siraj-ul-Haq.
The petititons added that the five-member bench did not have jurisdiction to rule over case 184-3 to disqualify the prime minister “without fair trial” and added that the apex court overseeing the NAB probe is violation “against the trichotomy Article 175”.
The former prime minister, through his petition, has argued that the decision passed by the court on July 28 should have been passed by a three-member bench as Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Justice Gulzar Ahmed’s jurisdiction had expired after their dissenting judgement on April 20.
“That by signing the Final Order of the Court dated 28.07.2017, the hon’ble two Members of the “Bench” have actually passed two final Judgments in the same case, which is unprecedented in judicial history,” said the appeal filed, a copy of which is available with Geo News.
“That on the face of the record, there are, as a matter of fact, four final Judgments passed in this case, the first of these final Judgments being the minority Judgment dated 20.04.2017 of the two hon’ble Members of the originally constituted learned 5-Member Bench, the second being the majority Judgment dated 20.04.2017 passed by the hon’ble 3-Member Bench of this hon’ble Court, the third judgment being the Judgment dated 28.07.2017, again passed by the learned 3-Member Bench of this august Court, and the fourth being the Final Order of the Court dated 28.07.2017 passed by the originally constituted learned 5-Member Bench of this august Court,” added the review petition.
The petitions also called the commendations and appreciations of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) “a gross transgression” of the former prime minister’s right to a fair trial.
The petitions also pleaded upon the apex court to “review and expunge” paragraph six of the final judgement.
The former premier has also filed a request before the apex court to issue a stay order on the implementation of the Supreme Court verdict.
Nawaz’s disqualification
Nawaz was disqualified under Article 62 (1)(f) of the Constitution.
Announcing its verdict, the five-member bench unanimously disqualified Nawaz Sharif for failing to disclose his un-withdrawn receivables constituting assets from UAE-based Capital FZE in his nominations papers for the 2013 General Election, stating that this meant he was not ‘honest’ and ‘truthful’, as per the Constitution.
In the verdict, all five judges ruled to send references against Nawaz Sharif, his children Maryam, Hussain and Hasan, son-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar and Ishaq Dar to an accountability court.
The court also ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file a reference against the accused in an accountability court in six weeks and directed for the trial to be wrapped up within six months.
