May 31, 2002	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 18,1423

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ISLAMABAD, May 30: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the National Accountability Bureau to produce record, within two days, of the remand and trial of the acting president of Pakistan Muslim League, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi.

Javed Hashmi had approached the Supreme Court for the transfer of his case from the Accountability Court No.4 to any other court in Lahore.

His counsel, Akram Sheikh, stated before that it was first case in which the judge who was trying his client had remanded him in police custody.

Advocate Afzal Siddiqui, representing NAB, stated that it was not the first case in which trial was being conducted by the same judge who had remanded the accused in police custody.

The court, however, directed NAB to produce record of the remands and trial of the PML leader by May 31. The SC bench consisted of Justice Munir A. Sheikh, Justice Qazi Mohammad Farooq and Justice Faqeer Mohammad Khokhar.

The apex court ordered the appellant’s counsel to produce a chart showing clearly who had remanded his client and who had conducted the trial against him.

Advocate Sheikh alleged that the accountability court was prejudiced against his client and was proceeding under the direction of NAB.

The court, he stated, was extending the remand of his client without any justification. He said that the judge never asked the prosecution for the reasons for the remand.

He said that his client had no hope of getting justice from the court and he had made a request to the court, comprising Judge Rana Abdul Ghaffar Khan, not to hear his case.

The allegation against the appellant was that his assets were beyond his known sources of income.