Daily Times

The law ministry has repatriated a judge of the Anti-Narcotics Force court who was hearing a contraband case against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Rana Sanaullah on Wednesday, a private TV channel reported.

According to a notification from the ministry dated August 26, the services of ANF court judge Masood Arshad have been repatriated to the Lahore High Court. The judge was hearing a case again Rana Sanaullah, who was arrested on July 1 after the ANF said it discovered a large stash of contraband from his vehicle.

Judge Arshad resumed hearing of the case earlier on Wednesday, but following a short recess, he announced that his services have been repatriated. The judge said he has received a WhatsApp message repatriating his services to the LHC, following which Rana Sanaullah’s lawyer said the case by the ANF was weak and that is why a break was taken during the hearing.

Judge Arshad, however, said that he is accountable to Almighty Allah and the decision would have been on merit regardless of it being against Rana Sanaullah or anyone else.

The law ministry in its statement following the development in the case denied sending a WhatsApp message to the judge. It said that no judge is ordered anything on a message. In the Aug 26 notification, the law ministry repatriated services of three sessions judges to the LHC. Accountability Court No 1 judge Mushtaq Elahi, and Court No 5 judge Naeem Arshad were also repatriated to the high court, according to the notification.

The counsel for Rana Sanaullah, while talking to the media outside the court, said that the development is unprecedented. “It seems like the government is trying to decide which judge they want the verdict from,” he alleged, adding that arguments have already been concluded in the case when the government decided to withdraw the judge through a notification.

PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb also criticised the development and termed it a direct attack on the freedom of judiciary. “Those who had made the case up against Rana Sanaullah could not bring a single piece of evidence against him, so they did this instead,” she said.