In this picture, the Lahore High Court building can be seen.  — LHC website/File


In this picture, the Lahore High Court building can be seen.  — LHC website/File
  • Consultation on NAB chief appointment can’t be done with Raja Riaz. 
  • Court should stop President, PM from appointing NAB chief. 
  • LHC demanded records reinstating PTI MNAs until March 6.

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) Thursday demanded the petitioners to present a copy of the order that reinstated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers in the next hearing of the case regarding the appointment of the chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Justice Raza Qureshi heard the petition in which it was maintained the opposition leader Raja Riaz could not be consulted on the appointment of the chairman of NAB.

The petition is put forth with reference to the current leader of the opposition Raja Riaz as he is among the disgruntled members of PTI who had voted against the former premier Imran Khan on the day of the vote of no-confidence. 

Riaz was declared the opposition leader after Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) formed the government. 

On February 21, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said that no one would accept Riaz’s consultation as “everyone knows he is a lota (turncoat) …”.

The petitioner also maintained that the appointment of Riaz as the opposition leader was already contested and the case was being heard in the court whereas the membership of the PTI legislators had been reinstated.

Therefore, until the appointment of the new opposition leader, the court should stop the President and the Prime Minister from appointing the new NAB chairman.

The judge, after a brief hearing, demanded the petitioners to produce before the court the order notifying the reinstatement of the PTI legislators in the National Assembly along with all the records until March 6.

It should be noted that Aftab Sultan had tendered his resignation as NAB chairman. He was appointed as the head of the anti-graft body on July 21, 2022, for three years by the PDM government after Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal’s tenure ended last year.

Speaking to Geo News, Sultan had said that: “I was asked to do certain things which were not acceptable to me.”

“I told them that I cannot continue with the conditions. My resignation has been accepted and it comes to an end on a positive note,” he said. “Prime minister expressed good wishes for me, I also have good wishes for him.”

According to sources, it was believed that Sultan suffered this setback after refusing to make arrests of politicians on someone’s orders.

“Sulatn was pressurised by the government and some other institutions in the last four months to register cases against the people of their choice and arrest them,” sources added

Sultan, according to a source, had also withdrawn NAB director-generals’ (DGs) powers to arrest citizens to avoid misuse of authority.

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