The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday dismissed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s petition seeking a single verdict on all three accountability references being heard against him and his family.
Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani and Aamer Farooq announced the verdict that was reserved on Thursday.
The bench ruled that Nawaz’s counsel had already started his final arguments in the Avenfield reference and, thus, the plea was infructuous. During Thursday’s proceedings, Advocates Azam Nazir Tarrar and Amjad Pervez appeared on behalf of Sharif family.
Nazir Tarrar contended that this was the first case in the history of the country where the petitioner was not using delaying tactics. He said recording separate testimonies of witnesses common to the three references was depriving his client of his fundamental rights.
NAB prosecutor Sardar Muzaffar argued that defence lawyer Khawaja Haris had already started presenting arguments in one of the references; therefore, the petition in the high court was no longer valid.
Further, he said the three references were independent of one another, adding that complete arguments for one reference had already been presented before the accountability court.
Earlier on June 5, the accountability court had dismissed Nawaz’s petition for final arguments in all the three references against the Sharif family to be heard together.
Published in Daily Times, June 23rd 2018.
