SC dismisses Dar’s appeal as withdrawn

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court dismissed as withdrawn, the appeal filed by former PMLN Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar against the decision of the Accountability Court which had declared him a proclaimed offender.

A two-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsen, resumed the hearing in Dar’s appeal on Wednesday. Salman Aslam Butt, counsel for Ishaq Dar, appeared before the court and submitted that as per law, an appeal would be filed before another appropriate forum. Hence, he submitted that he wanted to withdraw the instant appeal. The court then dismissed the instant appeal as withdrawn.

In 2017, the Accountability Court, while hearing a corruption reference against Ishaq Dar, declared him a proclaimed offender due to his continued absence from the proceedings. The former finance minister was elected as a PMLN senator on a technocrat seat in the Senate election on March 3, 2018. However, he had not yet taken oath as a senator since 2017. The Accountability Court had declared Ishaq Dar an absconder in a corruption reference.

In 2018, a three-member bench of the apex court, headed by former Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, suspended Dar’s Senate membership for not appearing before the court despite summoned by the court repeatedly

Recently, the former finance minister filed an application in the Supreme Court for an early hearing of the appeal, which has been pending before the court since 2018. He had originally filed an appeal in 2018 against the accountability court’s decision to declare him a proclaimed offender. In his latest application, Dar had requested the apex court to consider his case on merit.