ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali on Tuesday declared “ill-founded” the Supreme Court registrar’s objections to petitions moved against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and members of his family over the Panamagate scandal.

“It seems that the office’s objections as to the maintainability of these petitions are ill-founded,” the chief justice observed after a hearing in his chambers, where he accepted the appeals and set aside the objections raised by the registrar office to the petitions separately filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI), Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), Advocate Tariq Asad and Barrister Zafarullah Khan of the Watan Party.

A three-judge bench will take up the appeals, as well as the main petitions, on a date that is yet to be decided.

On Tuesday, senior counsel Hamid Khan and Naeem Bokhari appeared before the CJP on behalf of the PTI and Muhammad Asad Manzoor Butt on behalf of the JI. Tariq Asad and Zafarullah Khan appeared in person.

Three-judge bench to take up all four petitions seeking investigations against PM Sharif’s family, others

The PTI had on Sept 5 challenged the Supreme Court registrar’s decision of declaring its petition frivolous. The party argued that referring to its petition as frivolous was not only insulting but degrading and defamatory and reflected a lack of experience in the discharge of functions delegated to the registrar office.

The PTI’s petition had sought disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his son-in-law retired Captain Mohammad Safdar and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar for their alleged involvement in the Panamagate scam.

The PTI noted in its appeal that the petition returned by the registrar’s office was drawn up by three senior counsel who, between them, had nearly a hundred years’ worth of legal experience at the Supreme Court.

The appeal regretted that by declaring the PTI petition frivolous, the registrar had insulted the entire legal fraternity.

“The word ‘frivolous’ as relatable to a pleading is attracted only when the pleading is clearly insufficient,” the appeal argued, adding that it had raised extremely important questions of public importance in respect of fundamental rights.

Similarly, on Sept 3, the JI filed an appeal against the registrar’s returning of its petition demanding an inquiry into the Panama Papers leaks.

Advocate Tariq Asad had filed his petition on April 13 seeking the appointment of a high-level judicial commission to look into the investments allegedly made by the prime minister’s family and others through offshore companies.

He argued that such a commission would not only help expose the family of the prime minister, but also others allegedly involved in illegal acts of money laundering and tax evasion, such as retired Gen Pervez Musharraf, former president Asif Ali Zardari, former interior minister Rehman Malik, property tycoon Malik Riaz and the Saifullah family.

In his petition, Barrister Zafarullah Khan asked the Supreme Court to order the constitution of a parliamentary committee or panel to look into the Panamagate scandal. If there was disagreement on the issue in parliament, political parties should seek a vote of no confidence against the prime minister, the petition maintained.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2016