NAB amendment case: SC allows Imran to appear via video-link on May 16

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the federal and Punjab governments to arrange video-link facility for incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan to allow him to present his arguments in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) amendment case.

“The PTI founder can present his arguments in the upcoming hearing via video link if he wishes to do so [...] arrangements should be made for presentation of arguments via video link,” Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa said.

The CJP’s remarks came during the hearing of the federal government’s intra-court appeal filed against the apex court’s 2023 verdict that annulled some of the NAB amendments. Khan said he wanted to present his own arguments in the case.

A five-member larger bench, headed by CJP Isa and comprising Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi conducted the hearing.

Tuesday’s hearing came as a three-member bench of the apex court, in September 2023, had approved former prime minister Khan’s petition challenging amendments made to the country’s accountability laws during the tenure of the previous Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led government.

Headed by then-chief justice Umar Ata Bandial, and comprising Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, the court held more than 50 hearings and in its majority 2-1 verdict restored graft cases against public office holders that were closed down following the amendments.

The apex court ordered restoring all graft cases worth less than Rs500 million that were closed down against various political leaders belonging to different political parties and public office holders, and declared the amendments void.

Following the verdict, the federal government filed an appeal against the apex court’s order. The previous hearing of the case was held on October 31 last year, wherein the case was indefinitely adjourned and was taken up for the first time on Tuesday since then.

At the onset of the hearing, the CJP announced limiting the day’s proceedings to strictly legal points and stressed that the case pertains to the validity or invalidity of the amendments pertaining to the anti-graft watchdog.

With Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s advocate general voicing support for the apex court’s decision against the NAB amendments, the attorney general, on the federal government’s behalf, backed the NAB amendments passed by the Parliament.

Questioning the federal government’s locus standi in the said case, Justice Minallah stressed that only an affected party can file an appeal against a verdict. “This appeal is not admissible under the Benazir case,” the judge said.

Furthermore, with the CJP underscoring the need for the president to give reasons behind the issuance of an ordinance, Justice Mandokhail said the federal government also had to give reasons as to why it was necessary to pass the ordinance.

Lamenting that NAB was used for “political engineering”, Justice Minallah called on the anti-graft body to tell the court about the number of politicians it went after and how many of them were jailed in the past 10 years.The judge also directed the attorney general to ensure that the video link was operational.The court then adjourned the hearing of the case till May 16.