Pakistan’s top court seeks reasons for keeping army exempted from NAB laws

ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday asked the PTI lawyer about the reasons for not placing the army under the purview of the NAB laws.

A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, heard a case filed by Imran Khan against amendments approved the coalition government to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999.

During the hearing, Justice Mansoor observed that even judges are not exempted for the NAB and asked the PTI counsel about the reasons that army was in the ambit of the accountability laws.

He asked PTI whether it sees the process of keeping the army out of the ambit of NAB law as constitutional or not.

Justice Ijaz remarked that the PTI chief has prayed the court for restoring the NAB law to its original shape. To which, Justice Mansoor replied that the amendments did not violate the basic human rights.

CJP Umar described that the amendments had improve the NAB law. He also commented that the amendments were approved by the parliament in hurriedly without any debate on it, local media reported.

Earlier this year, Sharif-led cabinet passed the National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2022, with fresh legislation aiming to restrict the watchdog's role in corruption cases of over Rs500 million and taking away the president's authority to appoint accountability court judges.

Later, Khan challenged the amendments, arguing that the amendments aimed at benefiting influential persons. 

https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/12-Oct-2022/supreme-court-summons-records-of-last-23-years-from-nab-in-imran-khan-s-plea-challenging-nab-amendments