CJP dismisses Nawaz's plea to merge NAB references

The Chief Justice (CJ) of Pakistan Saqib Nisar rejected on Thursday deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s plea on the registrar office’s decision to return his petition seeking to club all the three references into one.

Khawaja Haris, lawyer of Sharif, appeared in Supreme Court (SC) on behalf of his client. Haris filed the petition under Article 184(3), pleading the SC to stop the accountability court’s proceedings in the three references until a single reference is filed against the accused.

The lawyer added that holding several trials based on one allegation is against the basic rights of the petitioners.

CJ Nisar heard the appeal in his chamber and maintained the objections raised by the registrar office. He said that that the option to review verdict was already provided to the Sharif family in the Panama Papers case.

Earlier, Sharif had approached SC to end the multiple references against him filed by the National Accountability Bureau and club three references into one. However, the registrar office of the SC had rejected his application saying that the petitioner needed to approach the relevant forum concerned in this regard.

The accountability court had indicted Sharif family in  Al-Azizia Steel Mills, Hill Metal Establishment and the Avenfield flats references.