by Ali Hamza in The Nation, Sept 16, 2023
ISLAMABAD – A three-member bench of Supreme Court of Pakistan has issued verdict on the NAB amendments bill by 2-1 through which cases on public office holders have been restored which were withdrawn after the amendments in the NAB Law bill.
Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ejaz ul Ahsan voted for the petition put up by PTI Chief Imran Khan in 2022 and Justice Mansoor Ali Shah gave his dissenting note. Keeping in mind, it was last day of CJP Bandial in the office, this decision has got different reviews from different sectors of the society. While talking to The Nation, Advocate Imran ul Haq, a NAB expert, said, “Old law has been activated and amendments have been thrown to the trash by this decision. All the politicians will come to the MAB ambit now and will go through scrutiny. The amendments done by the parliament have turned out to be a futile exercise by this decision,” he said.
When asked about many politicians consider NAB laws as draconian laws, Haq said, “laws are good but there’s no implementation of the laws, they were used for witch-hunting and match fixing. This decision might get turned away if it goes to the review. If the full court has been made on September 18th, this decision might also be an exercise on futility. Supreme Court will start a new tenure under new CJP on Monday with a new slate and we’ll find out what happens then.”
Senior political analyst Sohail Warraich while talking to The Nation about the verdict, said, “It’s a very confusing decision. Apparently it seems like PML-N and PPP have lost and PTI has won but in the long term it will be a victory for PML-N and PPP because the regime is favouring them right now. This is the victory for the establishment and eventually it will go against PTI.”
“This decision can also be quashed in coming days since new CJP Qazi Faez Essa will try to make a full bench on September 18,” he further added.
Talking about the tenure of outgoing CJP Bandial, Sohail Warraich said, “it was very confusing tenure. He brought PDM to power, then went against them.”
Senior Supreme Court reporter Hasnaat Malik while talking to The Nation, said, “This majority judgement by this bench will be overturned in the review. As Justice Mansoor Ali Shah said in the remarks that the bench was not constituted properly as it should’ve been a 5-member bench.”
Moreover, he said, “I don’t think it’ll have any effect on the politicians because majority of the cases against politicians were on investigation and inquiry stage.”
https://www.nation.com.pk/16-Sep-2023/implications-of-sc-verdict
