ISLAMABAD:
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Mian Saqib Nisar has formed a five-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) to hear the Sharif family’s review petitions against the top court’s July 28 verdict in Panama Papers case.
Earlier in the day, the apex court’s three-judge bench recommended the CJP to constitute a larger bench to hear the petitions.
When the apex court’s three-judge bench headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and comprising Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh and Justice Ijazul Ahsan took up the review petitions filed by the deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his children, their counsels Salman Akram Raja and Khawaja Haris submitted that the five-judge larger bench was competent to hear the petitions.
Accepting their request the bench recommended that the CJP form a larger bench to hear the ruling family’s review petitions on Wednesday. “Don’t you think it’s just academic that five judge larger bench should hear the case,” Justice Ejaz observed.
The Sharif family had moved two separate review petitions, challenging decisions given by a five-member bench and the other by a three-member bench of the apex court. Relations between the PML-N government and the top court have been tense since the six-member JIT, which probed the Sharif family’s overseas business dealings, began calling them in.
Interestingly, the Sharif family and the ruling party have always had a good track record with the superior judiciary and since 1990 have managed to get relief. This is the first time, however, that the ruling family is facing a truly tough situation in the superior courts. Generally, there is low likelihood that the SC reverses verdicts while exercising reviews because the scope is limited.
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