We completely back Justice Mansoor Ali Shah as CJP, says Imran

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) jailed founder Imran Khan has said his party is completely backing Supreme Court’s Justice Mansoor Ali Shah to become the country’s next top judge.

“The appointment of the next chief justice should be announced soon. [We] completely back Justice Mansoor Ali Shah,” the former prime minister said while speaking to journalists informally in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail on Wednesday.

Khan said that the purpose of “constitutional court is to end the power” of the Supreme Court’s chief justice, adding the “government is bent on destroying the judiciary”.

“They want their own judges to cover the [2024] election fraud,” the PTI founder insisted, stressing that the government “does not want the PTI to rise at any cost”.

Earlier, the Special Accountability Court gave the final deadline to the lawyers representing former prime minister Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi for cross-examination of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) investigation officer in the £190 million case.

The hearing took place at Adiala jail, where both Imran and Bushra were present.

Judge Nasir Javed Rana adjourned the next hearing until Friday due to the absence of Bushra’s lawyer, Usman Gul, who was reported to be suffering from dengue.

The defence requested a delay, explaining that Usman Gul’s illness prevented him from attending. The NAB lawyers, however, pointed out that Bushra had four lawyers named in the case and any of them could have conducted the cross-examination.

The NAB lawyers argued in court that the defence themselves brought an order from the Islamabad High Court to proceed with the trial. Now, the defence lawyers were deliberately causing delays in the hearing of reference.

The court instructed the defence lawyers that they were being given a final opportunity, and the cross-examination of NAB investigation officer must be completed in the next hearing.