Three D&SJs removed from hearing cases against Opposition leaders posted

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has posted three district & sessions judges (D&SJs) who were earlier repatriated from trial courts seized with corruption and drug cases against opposition leaders.

The high court had also made the judges OSD (officer on special duty) after repatriating them on the request of the federal law ministry. D&SJ Masood Arshad has been posted as presiding judge of Anti-Terrorism Court-II in Multan till date of his superannuation on February 5, 2022 or until further orders whichever is earlier.

His previous posting was at special court for Control of Narcotics Substance (CNS) where he was stopped from working in middle of August 28th hearing on bail petition filed by the former law minister Rana Sanaullah Khan in a drug case.

The judge had claimed that he was asked to relinquish the charge in a message he received from the ‘authority’ on his Whatsapp. D&SJs Naeem Arshad and Mushtaq Elahi were repatriated from accountability courts as requested by the law ministry.

Judge Naeem Arshad had been hearing cases of Ramzan Sugar Mills against leader of opposition in National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif, his sons Hamza and Salman while proceedings of Chaudhry Sugar Mills case against PML-N vice-president Maryam Nawaz and her cousin Yousaf Abbas were also pending before his court. However, D&SJ Elahi had no high profile case on his cause list. D&SJs Arshad and Elahi have now been posted at anti-terrorism courts of Bahawalpur and DG Khan respectively for a period of two-and-a-half years unless directed otherwise.

Meanwhile, D&SJ Shaukat Kamal has been transferred and posted from consumer court Sialkot to ATC-I Rawalpindi. Through another notification, Additional District & Sessions Judges Abdul Jabbar Naqshbandi has been transferred and posted from Multan to Jampur, Syed Ali Abbas from Jampur to Kasur and Ijaz Ahmad Bosal from Kasur to Kamoke.

The LHC also issued transfers and postings of 12 civil judges-cum-magistrates in the province. Muhammad Azam from Jalalpur Pirwala to Tandlianwala, Mudassir Hayat from Jalalpur Pirwala to Jatoi, Muhammad Hanif from Tandlianwala to Jalalpur Pirwala, Rao Ijaz Ahmad (awaiting posting) from Lahore to Pattoki, Shaukat Hayat (OSD) from Lahore to Kabirwala, Sohail Khalid from Jatoi to Shorkot, Muhammad Ahsan from Rahim Yar Khan to Jalalpur Pirwala, Tahir Mahmood from Attock to Sarai Alamgir, Mudassir Iqbal Shah from Sarai Alamgir to Lahore, Ms Poonam Adnan from Lahore to Attock, Imran Asghar from Lahore to Sargodha and Muhammad Yasir from Sargodha to Lahore.