Daily Times

LAHORE: Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi of the Lahore High Court on Thursday referred to the chief justice for constitution of a larger bench an application challenging conviction of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (r) Safdar in the Avenfield case.

The judge observed that the legal points raised in the petition were important in nature and required to be decided by a larger bench.

AK Dogar had moved the application in an already pending petition challenging the existence of the NAB ordinance. He stated that Nawaz, Maryam and Safdar were convicted under the law which didn’t exist now and as such the accountability court had no jurisdiction to try and convict these leaders. He stated that millions of people had been suffering from the agony of proceedings under a law which was constitutionally non-existent. He requested to suspend the operation of the accountability court’s judgment for being a court established under a non-existent law.

LHC single bench had issued notices to attorney general of Pakistan and the federal law ministry on the petition challenging the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, for being ultra vires of the several provisions of the constitution.

Dogar argued that the impugned ordinance was promulgated by then military dictator Pervez Musharraf under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) No 1 of 1999 as well as Order No 9 of 1999. He submitted that the order No 9 was promulgated only to amend PCO No 1 of 1999 by inserting Section 5A (1) in it to the effect that limitation of 120 days prescribed under Article 89 of the constitution to any ordinance by the president will not be applicable to the laws made under PCO No 1 of 1999.

He pleaded that under article 270-AA of the constitution through 18th Amendment, the PCO No 1 of 1999 was declared without lawful authority and of no legal effect. He asserted that once PCO No 1 was declared without lawful authority and of no legal effect, the amendments in it made under Order No 9 of 1999 would also stand lapsed and, therefore, the limitation period of 120 days prescribed under Article 89 will be applicable to the NAB Ordinance.

He said that according to sub-article 2 of Article 270-AA of the constitution, certain laws which were still enforced, should continue to remain enforced unless amended by legislation. He requested to declare that after the 18th amendment and insertion of Article 270-AA in the constitution, the NAB Ordinance ceased to be the law and had become non-existent and a dead letter.

Published in Daily Times, July 20^th 2018.