Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan will hear the Panamagate case on November 1, just a day before the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI’s) mass demonstration and planned siege of Islamabad.

However, Chief Justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali, while heading a three-judge bench, which took up the Panamagate related petitions for hearing the other day, had already made it clear that the judiciary would not intervene in politics until the government failed to protect the citizens’ fundamental rights.

“Let it be clear to all that we will never ever enter the political arena, but in case of failure of the executive to maintain and protect fundamental rights of citizens, then of course we will intervene,” the chief justice had earlier observed during the course of hearing.

Concerns were raised by some petitioners regarding the PTI’s plan of mass protest, who stating that the residents had reservations over the sit-in and the federal capital’s lockdown, which was prejudicial to public peace and would also adversely affect the country’s economy.

In a recent development, the top court’s office on Friday issued notices to 24 individuals – including the petitioners, respondents and the attorney general of Pakistan (AGP) – for resuming the hearing of the matter on November 1.

It is pertinent to mention here that the complete list of cases commencing from November’s first week has not been issued so far.

Meanwhile, legal experts believe that the top court’s next hearing would be significant, as it would determine whether it could intervene in the matter.

The attorney general of Pakistan is also expected to argue before the bench over the maintainability of the petitions.

“Having heard learned ASCs [lawyers] for the petitioners and the petitioners [themselves] in-person at some length, we are inclined to issue notices to the respondents and the attorney general of Pakistan (AGP) accordingly,” the issued notices mentioned the order of the previous hearing.

The petitions have named Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his sons Hassan Nawaz Sharif and Hussain Nawaz Sharif, daughter Maryam Safdar and her husband Capt (r) Muhammad Safdar, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the secretaries of the ministries of law and interior as respondents.

However, another petition filed by Advocate Tariq Asad has also listed the PTI chief as a respondent in his petition, so he has also been issued a notice.

Tariq Asad, in his main petition, contended that the previous sit-in of Imran Khan had made the lives of Islooites miserable, as their fundamental rights were consistently violated and movement of all segments of the civil society was restrained. He said that the previous protest had caused a great loss to the business community, while government and private offices and educational institutions were also closed.