Judge recuses himself from Capt Safdar case

LAHORE: A member of a Lahore High Court division bench on Thursday recused himself from a petition of Capt (retd) Safdar, son-in-law of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, for his pre-arrest bail in an inquiry of assets beyond means case.

The bench comprising Justice Alia Neelum and Justice Asjad Javed Ghural took up the petition, however, the latter recused himself from the matter for personal reasons.

The bench referred the case file to the chief justice for the fixation of the petition before any other bench.

Earlier, Justice Ghural also recused himself from the post-arrest bail petition of former defence minister Kh Muhammad Asif.

It is to mention that Justice Ghural was also a member of a division bench that had delivered a split decision on the bail petition of PMLN president Shehbaz Sharif. He had dismissed the bail while Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar, who headed the bench, had allowed it during April last. However, a full bench had later granted the bail to Shehbaz. In his bail petition, Safdar through a counsel contended that an inquiry into the assets of the petitioner was already pending with the Peshawar office of the NAB while the Lahore office had initiated another inquiry on similar charges. He said the act of the NAB of holding two separate inquiries on similar charges against the petitioner was illegal and based on mala fide intention.