Setting New Precedents

Bol News takes a look at some of the more prominent cases that went through the courts during the preceding year

Lahore: Pakistan’s superior courts have issued a number of judgements during 2022 that are likely to set positive precedents and have a lasting effect on the nation’s political and legal landscape. Some of the more significant rulings include the one by the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) against the decision of the deputy speaker of the National Assembly to invalidate dissenting votes.

Also, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party was given relief in court cases involving charges of corruption. The Avenfield reference against Maryam Nawaz and the money-laundering cases against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz were grounded.

In the following lines Bol News lists some important rulings issued by the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP), the High Courts and the District Courts during 2022.

No-Trust vote against Imran Khan

The SCP had annulled the 3 April ruling of the National Assembly’s Deputy Speaker regarding the rejection of the no-confidence motion against former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The court further held that the subsequent act of President Dr. Arif Alvi to order dissolution of the National Assembly on the advice of the Prime Minister was also contrary to the Constitution and the law. Resultantly, a no confidence vote was held in the parliament and then prime minister, Imran Khan, was voted out of power.

CM Punjab election

In Punjab, the PMLN had formed a coalition government with the help of 25 PTI dissidents. But the SCP ruled that votes of dissidents could not be counted under the law. Hence, the PML-N lost the majority and a second round of election took place in the assembly. But during the election the Deputy Speaker rejected ten votes of Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) as illegal and declared the PML-N candidate as successful.

Eventually, the SCP scrapped the Deputy Speaker’s ruling and asked the Punjab Governor to administer oath to the new Chief Minister at 11:30pm that night. In case the Governor was not available, the President should administer the oath, the court ruled.

Interprtting of Article 63A

While hearing a presidential reference and constitutional petitions pleading for an interpretation of Article 63-A of the Constitution – which relates to parliamentarians deviating from the policies of their respective political parties – the SCP declared that votes of the deviants would not be counted. However, it rejected a presidential reference regarding lifetime disqualification of the defected members, and referred the matter to the parliament to determine the period of such disqualification.

Money laundering case

In October 2022, a special central court in Lahore acquitted Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shehbaz in a Rs 16 billion money-laundering case. The ruling drew upon the argument of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) that there was no circumstantial evidence to connect the two to the crime.

FIA’s prosecutor argued that there was no evidence to show that the money had either been deposited or withdrawn from the bank accounts of the accused.

Avenfield Reference

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) acquitted Maryam Nawaz and her husband, Captain (retired) Safdar, in the Avenfield reference in September 2022 and annulled the sentences handed down earlier by an accountability court.

The IHC held that the punishments were unjustified, that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) failed to prove its case and could not transfer the burden of proof to the accused. It also noted that while a trial court had rejected the charge of corruption against Nawaz Sharif, ruling that no evidence was brought before it to show that Nawaz Sharif bought the Avenfield Apartments in Maryam Nawaz’s name with illegal money, NAB never filed an appeal against it. It ruled that NAB also failed to prove that Maryam Nawaz had been hiding her ownership of the apartments.

Woman judge threatened

IHC initiated contempt proceedings against PTI Chairman, Imran Khan, for threatening a female Additional Sessions Judge, Zeba Chaudhry, during a public address. Subsequent to that, Imran Khan rushed to the court to tender an apology to the judge before charges in the case were framed. But the judge was not present at the time. The IHC has since accepted Imran Khan’s apology.

Tosha Khana case

In its unanimous verdict in October 2022, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said: “We are of the opinion that Imran Khan is disqualified.” It further ruled that Imran Khan is no longer a member of the National Assembly, and that his seat is declared vacant.

Imran Khan was disqualified under Article 63p of the Constitution.

The ECP also decided to take legal action against Imran Khan, and criminal proceedings in the case have already started in the court. The High Court has ruled, however, that he is not barred from contesting elections in future.

Reko Diq agreement

In December 2022, a five-member bench of the SCP, headed by Chief Justice Umar Atta Bandial, announced a 13-page verdict, declaring the Reko Diq agreement legal.

The agreement was signed by the Pakistani government with two international companies, Antofagasta and Barrick Gold Corporation, for the revival of the Reko Diq mining project. It was signed in March. A presidential reference issued in this regard sought the SCP’s opinion on whether or not the court’s 2013 verdict in the affair prevented the federal and provincial governments from entering into the implementation pact a second time.

The SCP observed in its order that in the settlement deal, there was no violation of the apex court’s 2013 judgment, which had only declared the first agreement as void.

The court added that the federal and provincial governments had signed the agreement in the light of expert opinion, and that the Balochistan Assembly was taken into confidence as well. The Balochistan government will get $ 32 billion from the agreement over a period of 40 years.

Punjab Governor ruling

Lahore High Court (LHC) suspended Punjab governor’s power to de-notify the Punjab Chief Minister, Pervaiz Elahi, and his cabinet after he refused to get a vote of confidence from the provincial assembly.

Faisal Vawda disqualification

The SCP disqualified PTI leader Faisal Vawda for life on ground of providing false affidavit. Vawda filed a review petition in the court while admitting to have made false statements and apologizing for it.

The court commuted his ban to five years, or the tenure of the current National Assembly. As such, he is now eligible to contest the upcoming general elections.

Navy’s illegal sailing club

In January 2022, the IHC declared the Naval Sailing Club as illegal and ordered its demolition within three weeks. It also ordered criminal proceedings against former Chief of Pakistan Navy, Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi, and others.

The court had written in the judgment that a forensic audit of the club should be conducted to estimate the losses the venture caused to the national exchequer, and to arrange for compensations.

The court also declared the Navy golf course in the area as illegal, and directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to take immediate possession of the land. It also ordered the defense secretary to take action against the encroachers. It also declared all construction in the Margalla Hills National Park area as illegal, including 8,000 acres of land occupied by military farms.

Unconstitutional plots

In February, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minhallah and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani delivered a 64-page judgment on the housing scheme of the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority (FGEHA).

It declared plots allotted by FGEHA in Islamabad’s Sectors F-12, G-12, F-14 and F-15 were illegal and against public interest. In his remarks the chief justice said that state land is there to serve the interests of the public, not the elite.

Noor Muqaddam and others

An Additional Session Judge of Islamabad, Atta Rabbani, sentenced one, Zahir Jafar, to death under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) after he was found guilty of murdering Noor Muqaddam, daughter of a former ambassador, Shaukat Muqaddam, in February.

Zahir Jafar’s father, Zakir Jafar, and his mother, Ismat Adamji, were acquitted, while their employees, Jameel and Iftikhar, were sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The same judge sentenced five accused to life imprisonment in case of sexual harassment of a boy and a girl in the E-11 area.

PECA Ordinance repealed

In April, the IHC declared invalid the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), terming it as contrary to the freedom of expression and cancelling official actions taken under it.

The court directed the Home Secretary to hold an inquiry into the misuse of powers by officials of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)’s Cyber Crime Wing, action taken against the offenders, and submit a report at the court within a month.

Miscellanious cases

Imran Khan approached the SCP against the amendments made to the National Accountability Law by the PML-N-led coalition government “with an aim to halt corruption cases against the political elite.” The case is still pending.

In another significant case, the SCP has acquitted Shahrukh Jatoi, the convict who was sentenced to death by the trial court for killing his brother.

The SCP also acquitted Rana Naveed, accused of the attack on former president Pervez Musharraf, subsequent to the completion of his life sentence. Meanwhile, the IHC acquitted the suspects in the Major Larib murder case due to poor police investigation.

Moreover, the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) acquitted 82 accused, including top politicians such as President Arif Alvi, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Pervez Khattak, Shaukat Yousafzai, Shafqat Mehmood, Jahangir Tareen, Saifullah Niazi and Aleem Khan in the Parliament attack case.

Despite having concluded thousands of big and small legal cases, the judiciary’s hands continue to be full with as many as 52,000 cases still pending in different courts.