June 1, 2002	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 19,1423

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ISLAMABAD, May 31: The supreme court on Friday dismissed the petition by Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, imprisoned PML(N) acting president, demanding the transfer of his case to some other accountability court.

Javed Hashmi was arrested by the NAB in November 2001 after PML(N), headed by him, had launched a public contact campaign. The prosecution has alleged that his assets were beyond his known sources of income.

He had approached the supreme court through senior advocate Akram Sheikh that his case should be transferred to some other accountability court, as he had no hope of getting justice from the accountability court headed by Judge Rana Abdul Ghafar Khan.

The SC bench consisting of Justice Munir A. Sheikh, Justice Qazi Farooq and Justice Faqir Mohammad Khokhar, after hearing Akram Sheikh and advocate Mohammad Afzal Siddiqui, NAB counsel, refused to accept Javed Hashmi’s petition.

The petitioner’s counsel stated that accountability court was prejudiced against his client and was proceeding under NAB’s directives.

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

Advocate Afzal Siddiqui, representing the NAB, stated that objections regarding grant of remand were not valid and it was a routine practice.