July 20, 2006	Thursday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 23, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, July 19: Leader of Opposition in the Senate Mian Raza Rabbani Wednesday said that the non-bailable warrants issued by the district and sessions judge, Islamabad, for the arrest of PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto and her spouse Asif Ali Zardari would be challenged.

“The lawyers of the former premier have proceeded to London and on their return they will challenge the orders of the district and sessions judge, as he has no jurisdiction to issue non-bailable warrants of Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari,” said Rabbani in a statement here on Wednesday.

“It is totally unlawful for the district and sessions judge to issue non-bailable warrants of Ms Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari”, he added.

He said according to the law, the sessions judge lacked jurisdiction to entertain a case relating to filing of electoral assets with the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The complainant in the mis-declaration case is the National Accountability Bureau, which has failed to act against a single minister of the incumbent regime for the last seven years, he said.

The PPP leader said that NAB lacked power or authority or locus standi to file a complaint of this nature. “It is the Election Commission that can take cognizance of a mis-declaration if it has been committed,” he added.

However, to date, the Election Commission has not filed any such case against any individual except for the former prime minister and her husband, whose assets are a correct formulation.

The purpose, he said, for which the assets had been filed had also lapsed. The purpose was to consider whether a person could contest an election or continue in a particular assembly. The assembly for which the election form was filled had completed its term in 1996, a decade ago, he said.

The mis-declaration case is time-barred, malafide and without jurisdiction, he said, adding that the judge was bound to issue summons at the known address of the defendants, which he did not do.