Daily Times

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recent “black sheep remarks” have drawn the ire Supreme Court’s judges, who asked the top executive official to knock on the doors of relevant forums if he had complaints.

The remarks from the judges came during a hearing of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) amendment case earlier today. Addressing an event on Tuesday, PM Shehbaz had said: “You are Pakistanis; you are judges. If development does not return to Pakistan, then there will be no judges, no politicians, and no one else. Do you want this? I believe that most of these judges are Pakistanis and think about Pakistan’s development, but some ‘black sheep’ are helping [PTI founder] Imran Khan.” The incumbent premier said when former PM Nawaz Sharif was under trial, he would not get bail in his cases, but currently, there are discussions about how the PTI founder can be sent out on bail and his cases be dismissed.

During the hearing, 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 conducted the hearing on NAB amendment case.

During the hearing, Justice Mandokhail, while interacting with Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan, observed that the prime minister labelled the judges as “black sheep”. “If you like the decision then a judge is fine but if you dislike the verdict then a judge becomes black sheep,” Justice Mandokhail remarked. Responding to the remarks, the AGP clarified that the PM did not label the “honourable judges” as black sheep. “This [black sheep remarks] was not aimed at incumbent judges,” the AGP added.

Justice Minallah also apparently expressed annoyance over the remarks, saying: “We are not black sheep [but] we are black bumble bee so PM can get the benefit of doubt.” The judge also told the AGP to ask the premier to file reference against “black sheep” in the judiciary.

Meanwhile, dormer premier Imran Khan complained to CJP about the challenges he faced in obtaining legal assistance for the NAB law amendments case as the two interacted for the first time in the courtroom. Incarcerated at Adiala Jail, the ex-premier attended the hearing via video link. Imran informed the CJP, “The jail authorities do not allow me to meet my legal team. I am being kept in solitary confinement without access to any materials or a library to prepare for the case.”

At the outset of the hearing, the apex court rejected the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government’s petition seeking the hearing to be broadcast live. The federal government challenged the apex court’s majority verdict in September last year, declaring amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 2002 illegal. The proceedings held on May 14 were telecast live. However, the last one as well as Thursday’s was not. Both of them had the ex-premier in attending the hearing via video link.

Justice Minallah dissented from the majority 4-1 decision and said that it is a matter of public interest and therefore should be live-streamed. The chief justice said the court has never received such a plea before and all judges deliberated on the petition before a decision was reached.

At the outset of the hearing, Justice Minallah said the hearing should be broadcast in the same manner earlier hearings were. However, the chief justice said the case is “technical” in nature and is not a matter of public interest. “The last hearing was not broadcast live and neither will we broadcast today,” added Justice Isa. Following these remarks, the bench took a recess to deliberate if the hearing should be broadcast live.