November 6, 2003	Thursday	Ramazan 10, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 5: The Supreme Court has observed it would consider the request for bail by a resident of the Northern Areas after one week if the Court of Appeals with the status of high court was not established within this period.

The apex court, was informed by Attorney-General Makhdoom Ali Khan that the establishment of the Court of Appeals was in the process, and would be established within days.

Chief Justice Sheikh Riaz Ahmad, who was heading the bench, observed on Tuesday that it was in his personal knowledge that the government was considering to establish such a court to provide right to appeal to the aggrieved people of Northern Areas.

The issue has been raised before the Supreme Court by a bureaucrat, Pervez Iqbal, who has been convicted of corruption. He was arrested by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on corruption charges.

The counsel, representing the petitioner, said that the NAB arrested Pervez Iqbal and was awarded 14-year imprisonment by an accountability court in the Northern Areas. The punishment was later reduced to four years.

When he approached the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench, his petition was rejected on the ground that court’s jurisdiction did not extend to the Northern Areas.

The counsel argued that Pervez Iqbal has already undergone two-and-half-year sentence, therefore, he was entitled to be released on bail.

The counsel stated that if the people of the Northern Areas had no right to appeal in the superior courts in Pakistan, then the NAB courts should not be established there.