The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday dismissed petitions filed by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar yesterday challenging his ‘swift indictment’ by an accountability court in a reference pertaining to ownership of "assets beyond his known sources of income".

The petitions submitted by Dar's counsel, Khawaja Harris, maintained that the accountability court had not granted him a minimum period of seven days to peruse the material that the accountability court had handed him two days before his indictment.

Dar was indicted by the accountability court last Wednesday — less than 48 hours after he received a copy of the reference filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), along with copies of related documents spanning 23 volumes.

Dismissing Dar's petitions, a two-judge bench ─ consisting of Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb ─ said that the accountability court is an independent forum and maintained that Dar's indictment could not be challenged.

NAB filed three references against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his children and one against Dar on the directions of the Supreme Court on September 8.

On September 18, the NAB Lahore wrote to the State Bank of Pakistan to remind them that since a reference was pending against him, “the bank accounts of Dar may be cautioned”.

The bureau, however, left room for transactions from these accounts, as NAB has made this subject to the orders of the accountability court.

NAB had also written to district governments, asking them to stop any transfer or disposal of the properties owned by Dar, warning that in case of non-compliance, they could face up to three years in prison under the National Accountability Ordinance.

The court observed that the National Accountability Ordinance 1999, under which Dar's reference was filed, states that the trial against the finance minister should be complete within 30 days.

During the proceedings, Justice Minallah remarked that the proceedings against Dar in accountability court were "lawful" and were headed in the "right direction".