KARACHI, Aug 7: The Sindh High Court dismissed on Tuesday a National Accountability Bureau appeal and upheld the acquittal of former commerce minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar and secretary Brig (retd) Aslam Hayat Qureshi.
The accused were first acquitted by an accountability court. They were alleged to have sanctioned rice exports below the prevailing international market price in 1995-96, thereby causing a loss of Rs67 million to the public exchequer.
Appearing for former PPP secretary-general Ahmed Mukhtar, Advocate Shahadat Awan argued that the reference was part of political victimisation. The price was at par with the international market price when the agreement was signed. It might have gone up subsequently. Advocate M. Ilyas Khan argued on behalf of Brig (retd) Qureshi that the prosecution had failed to adduce any evidence to substantiate the charge.
A division bench comprising Justices Mohammad Afzal Soomro and Rehmat Hussain Jaffri upheld the accountability court’s acquittal order for detailed reasons to be recorded later.
The Sindh High Court adjourned the hearing of petitions against the Pemra Ordinance of June for comments by the ministry of information and broadcasting.
Representing the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, Advocate Kashif Hanif said the petitions were not maintainable as Pemra had taken no action under the impugned ordinance and the television channels, grouped together in the Pakistan Broadcasting Association (PBA), were in talks with the authority for working out a voluntary code of conduct addressing the concerns of all stakeholders. A draft code of conduct had already been submitted by the PBA.
He said the channels, which could have been aggrieved by the ordinance, were not before the court.
Federal government standing counsel Mahmood Alam Rizvi said the draft code of conduct submitted by the PBA was under the information and broadcasting ministry’s consideration. Consultations were under way but it would take some time for the process to yield results. It would be premature for the respondent ministry to submit comments on the petition pending negotiations with the PBA. He sought two weeks’ adjournment to enable the ministry to finalise the draft and file comments.
Advocate Mustafa Lakhani, appearing for petitioner-lawyers Salahuddin Gandapur and Mohammad Aqil, said it would be wrong to say that the provisions of the ordinance had not been enforced. The ban on live coverage of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry’s visits and speeches was imposed under the new provisions, he contended.
Representing the People’s Lawyers Forum, Advocates Raza Rabbani and Farooq H. Naek said the new ordinance contained draconian provisions such as seizure of equipment and sealing of offices and studios that could not be allowed to remain on the statute book.
The petitioners’ counsel said the impugned provisions were repugnant to the freedom of expression and the media guaranteed by Article 19 of the Constitution.
They said if the code of conduct agreed upon by the ministry and the PBA also violated the fundamental right ensured by Article 19, it would be equally liable to be set aside. They said the viewers, including all segments of society, were the real stakeholders and no agreement between the government and the PBA should be allowed to infringe their right.
Chief Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed and Justice Faisal Arab, who constituted the bench seized of the petitions, agreed that the broader question of freedom of expression and of information was involved in the proceedings, and adjourned further hearing to Aug 28.