Plea challenging Sharifs’ conviction referred for larger bench

LAHORE: A Lahore High Court single bench Thursday referred to the chief justice a petition challenging conviction of former premier Nawaz Sharif and his family members under the National Accountability Ordinance 1999 for constitution of a larger bench to ascertain the legal issue whether prevailing NAB law has been abolished or not.

Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi observed that the legal points raised in the petition were important in nature and required to be heard by a larger bench. Senior lawyer AK Dogar has assailed the conviction of Sharifs under the existing NAB Ordinance.

The lawyer pleaded that the former premier Nawaz Sharif and others had been convicted by a court which had no jurisdiction because the law under which it (court) had been created was a dead law. He stated that the high court should suspend the operation of the accountability court’s judgment for being a court established under a non-extent law.

Questioning the validity of the NAB law, advocate Dogar argued that the ordinance was promulgated by then military dictator/president Pervez Musharraf under Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) No 1 of 1999 as well as order No 9 of 1999. He said the order No 9 was promulgated only to amend PCO No 1 of 1999 by inserting Section 5A (1) in it to the effect that limitation of 120 days prescribed under Article 89 of the Constitution to any ordinance by the president will not be applicable to the laws made under PCO No 1 of 1999.

He said under Article 270-AA of the Constitution through 18th Amendment, the PCO No 1 of 1999 was declared without lawful authority and of no legal effect.

The lawyer argued that once PCO No 1 was declared without lawful authority and of no legal effect, the amendments in it made under order No 9 of 1999 will also stand lapsed and therefore, the limitation period of 120 days prescribed under Article 89 will be applicable to the NAB Ordinance.

Advocate Dogar asked the court to declare that after the 18th Amendment and insertion of Article 270-AA in the Constitution, the NAB ordinance ceased to be the law and had become non-existent and a dead letter.