LAHORE: The Lahore High Court dismissed on Friday as non-maintainable a petition seeking disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for alleged money laundering.

After hearing arguments of petitioner Barrister Javed Iqbal Jafree, a five-judge bench headed by Justice Farrukh Irfan Khan ruled that the petition filed 24 years ago was not maintainable under the law.

According to the petitioner, Pakistan is a Muslim country and all decisions should be taken in accordance with Islam. The court had no reason to stick to the petition’s point of maintainability, he argued.

He sought the court’s permission to cross-examine Nawaz Sharif and pointed out that the respondent had already filed an affidavit in the case several years ago.

But the bench observed that courts “decide cases in accordance with law”.

The petitioner objected to the appearance of a deputy attorney general to defend the prime minister in the case and said that a state lawyer could not appear in case relating to personal allegations. He said that two of the judges of the bench had heard his cases and, therefore, they should not sit on the bench hearing the instant petition.

Justice Farrukh Irfan observed that judges’ decisions were not beleaguered, but under the law.

Other members of the bench were Justice Mohammad Qasim, Justice Ayesha A. Malik, Justice Faisal Zaman and Justice Mirza Viqas Rauf.

Barrister Jafree told reporters that he would challenge the LHC decision in the Supreme Court.

Filed in 1991, the petition accused Nawaz Sharif of laundering over $3 billion, mostly to the UK, where his two sons had acquired precious property. It sought lifetime disqualification of Mr Sharif for alleged money laundering.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2015

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