Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court (SC) has on Friday rejected the plea from National Accountability Court (NAB) to reopen Hudaibiya Paper Mills case.

In a short order announced by 3-member bench head Justice Mushir Alam, the NAB plea to reopen the Hudaibiya case has been rejected. Justice Qazi Faiz Isa and Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel were the other two members of the bench and the decision was unanimous.

Four hearings were conducted on the issue and the court reached on the decision today that the case will not be reopened.

NAB had requested to reopen the case in the light of the Panama Leaks case decision by the 5-member bench. SC heard the case and refused to compromise the time bar for the review of a decision.

Hudaibiya Paper Mills case had been decided by Lahore High Court (LHC) in 2014 and NAB did not file a reopen petition in SC within the time given.

Detailed verdict on the case will be announced later.

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‘Decision not surprising’

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Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) leader Talal Chaudhry said that the decision by Supreme Court was not surprising at all. “The case had been quashed by 11 judges of 3 different courts in the past. This decision is not in PML-N’s favour but in court’s favour”, he said.

Talal added that the decision will go a long way in restoring people’s faith in Supreme Court. It would have been surprising if the decision went against us since all the decisions in the case in the past were in our favour, he said.

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Decision proves Nawaz Sharif’s honesty

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State Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali said that the decision had proved former Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif’s honesty. The entire Panama case was based on the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case and now it has been quashed.

“Bring those members of Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to the courts now and ask them why had they lied in their report. This decision also proves that whatever Nawaz Sharif had said before the JIT was also true”.

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PTI says NAB lawyer got what he wanted

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Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry criticised NAB’s lawyer, saying that this is exactly what he wanted. “I had stated it previously as well that the way NAB’s lawyer was fighting the case, SC would reject the plea”, he said.

Fawad Chaudhry said that PTI had expressed its reservations over NAB’s prosecution in this case. “If PTI comes to power, this case will be taken to its logical conclusion”, Fawad added.