ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Thursday rejected the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s request for live broadcast of the hearing of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) amendment case.
The apex court dismissed the request filed by KP advocate general by 4-1 as Justice Athar Minallah dissented with the majority judgement.
The development comes as the SC is hearing the intra-court appeals filed by the federal and provincial governments against the NAB amendments struck down by the apex court.
The case is being heard by a five-member SC larger bench headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Minallah and Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi.
Earlier in the day, Justice Minallah had called for the live streaming of the proceedings of the said case.
“The [hearing of] case should be broadcast live since this was the case before as well,” the judge said.
As the hearing was about to start, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa advocate general apprised the court that the provincial government had filed a request seeking a live broadcast of the case.
“This is a case of public interest,” he said.
“This is a technical case and not one of public interest,” CJP Isa said while responding to the KP advocate general’s remarks.
The court then took a break with the judges consulting on the issue of live streaming of the case proceedings.
During the previous hearing on May 16, which wasn’t broadcast live, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) incarcerated founder Imran Khan appeared before the court via video link after the former prime minister expressed his wish to present his own arguments in the case.
However, the ex-PM’s appearance, his first in the apex court since his arrest last year from Zaman Park in Toshakhana reference, didn’t go without controversy as the SC administration announced launching an investigation after his image, while appearing before the court, was leaked on social media.
Following today’s decision, the court then adjourned the case till next week.
What is NAB amendments case?
A three-member bench of the SC, 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 the political leaders belonging to different political parties and public office holders and declared the amendments void.
The verdict provisions far-reaching consequences as the striking down of the amendments would mean that references against some of the country’s political bigwigs will once again land in the accountability courts.
These include the Toshakhana reference against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan Peoples Party Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, along with the LNG reference against former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and the rental power reference against another ex-premier Raja Pervez Ashraf.
Following the verdict, the federal government filed an appeal against the apex court order.