Courts should take suo moto to prevent NAB’s excesses: Javed Jabbar

KARACHI: Senator (retd) Javed Jabbar has strongly condemned the arbitrary, unlawful arrest of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman by NAB on 12th March 2020 in Lahore and requested the Punjab High Court and the Supreme Court to swiftly take suo moto notice of this blatant injustice against the head of one of Pakistan’s major media groups.

Far from discouraging or preventing media in Pakistan from candidly reporting on the conduct of state institutions, government departments or ostensibly independent bodies such as NAB, this arrest is a self-defeating action. Both internal national public opinion and media as well as global overseas media and opinion-makers have already categorically rejected the credibility of the claimed grounds for Mir Shakil’s arrest, he said.

The onus to undo this grave wrong is on the superior courts because NAB’s contemptuous disregard for its own governing law and for recent court judgments prohibiting arrests before completion of prescribed procedures warrants immediate intervention.

The former federal minister for information and broadcasting said while rendering deserved relief to a particular individual, a volitional superior court initiative at this stage will ensure that other citizens and organizations are not victimized without due process.