Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) will announce the long awaited Panama case judgment on Thursday, April 20th.

Sources said that a separate supplementary cause list will be issued today evening for fixing the matter.

On February 23, the SC reserved its judgment on the country’s historical case, wherein Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification as a member of national assembly is sought by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamat-e-Islami (JI) and Awami Muslim League (AML).

The top court’s five-judge larger bench, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, had been hearing the Panama case since last January and a total of 26 hearings had been carried out in which documents comprising of approximately 20,000 pages were produced before the top court by petitioners and Sharif family.

The petition of PTI Chairman Imran Khan was advocated by Naeem Bukhari, while AML’s Chief Sheikh Rasheed pleaded in-person and JI’s Emir Sirajul Haq petition was pleaded by Taufeeq Asif.

Likewise, Makhdum Ali Khan appeared on behalf of PM Nawaz Sharif and Salman Akram Raja defended PM’s sons Hassan and Hussain Nawaz. Shahid Hamid had represented PM’s daughter Maryam Safdar, his son-in-law Muhammad Safdar and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.

After the conclusion of arguments from petitioners and respondents, Justice Khosa on the date of last hearing had observed that this was not the case in which a short order could be passed.

He had further said that as around 25,000 pages were submitted so the judges would look into each and every aspect of these documents, after which the judgment would be given in accordance with the constitution and law.

Regarding the authenticity of submitted documents, Justice Khosa, however, had hinted that if these documents were objected on the grounds of validity, then 99.9 percent documents out of 25,000 would be ‘thrown away’, adding that none of the documents submitted by the parties in the case had come from provable source.

During the course of last hearing, another member of bench Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed had observed that everyone had to go in his own grave so the judgment had to be given in accordance with the law and without looking at the wishes and opinions.

So that if a judge even after 20years read our judgment he could say that the judgment was made by the book, Justice Khosa had further supplemented.

The long awaited judgment has also remained in remarks of member judges of larger bench during the proceedings of different case.

“Our pronouncement will be a law which will be endured for centuries,” observed Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, while heading another five-judge larger bench, during the hearing appeals filed by the Punjab government departments against the Lahore High Court’s order suspending the construction of the Orange Line Metro Train project.

He had also observed that the Panama case’s verdict would not just concern the Sharif family, but it would set a law which will be practiced for centuries.