PHC seeks reply from head of Abbottabad Commission

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday sought reply from the head of the Abbottabad Commission Justice (R) Javed Iqbal, now National Accountability Bureau chairman, in a writ petition, seeking orders for the commission of inquiry into the Abbottabad incident to probe the ‘prior information’ allegedly available with the then president Asif Ali Zardari about the May 2011 US military operation against Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

A division bench comprising Justice Muhammad Ghazanfar Khan and Justice Abdul Shakoor issued the notice to the former head of the Abbottabad commission to submit the reply to the question raised in the petition.

The petition was filed by a citizen Shahid Orakzai. He pleaded the court to order the Abbottabad commission to examine the ‘evidence’ of the alleged communication between former president Asif Ali Zardari and the Pakistani ambassador to the US Hussain Haqqani prior to the Abbottabad operation and submit the report about it within 30 days.

However, in its reply to the petition, the former president Asif Ali Zardari requested Peshawar High Court to dismiss as non-maintainable a writ petition, seeking orders for the commission of inquiry into the Abbottabad incident to probe the ‘prior information’ allegedly available with Zardari about the May 2011 US military operation against Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

The former president stated that the writ petition is not maintainable as the subject matter does not fall within the ambit of Article 199 of the Constitution and the inquiry commission after concluding its report is no longer functional. Former president claimed he had no prior knowledge of the raid.

As interim relief, the petitioner requested the court to suspend the membership of the National Assembly of Asif Ali Zardari and restrain him from leaving Pakistan.

Muzzamil Khan represented the former president and submitted the reply on behalf of Asif Ali Zardari.