Petition against Justice Sheikh Ahmed Saeed's appointment dismissed

A petition seeking the removal of retired Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed as the chairman of the Broadsheet Commission has been dismissed by the Islamabad High Court.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard the petition on Friday filed by citizen Saleemullah Khan.

The petitioner's counsel objected to the hearing by the chief justice and requested for a change of bench, to which Justice Minallah said, "Yes, you have objected to every bench."

After listening to arguments against the bench, the verdict was reserved and later pronounced.

Justice Minallah authored a four-page verdict in the matter.

According to the ruling, the petitioner did not give arguments despite being given an opportunity by the court, therefore the petition was dismissed as inadmissible.

The judgment said that a petition seeking a retrial after seven different judges is rejected while a petition for trial in the court of the applicant's choice is also rejected.

The petitioner had sought removal of Justice Saeed from the commission.

The petitioner had taken the stance that Justice Saeed has served as Deputy Prosecutor General in NAB, and his appointment as head of the Broadsheet Inquiry Commission is a conflict of interest.

He had also made the plea that no retired judge can be appointed to any post for two years after retirement.

PM constitutes committee

Prime Minister Imran Khan has constituted an inter-ministerial committee to probe the Broadsheet LLC scandal and tasked it to present its findings in 45 days.

The move followed the surfacing of an interview of Broadsheet CEO Kaveh Moussavi on YouTube in which he makes several claims regarding the firm's investigation into the assets of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif held abroad.

Faraz said that the committee will not only minutely probe the fine points of the case, it will determine "how the country's wealth was looted, and how the firm, after it made important discoveries, was approached by someone said to be Nawaz Sharif's cousin to have the family's name removed from the matter, after which the CEO said 'we don't deal with crooks'".

The information minister said that those who "made a mockery out of the state institutions, hurt the nation's wealth and dragged the country into litigation which has caused great embarrassment" will be dealt with after the committee shares its own findings "soon".