SC allows Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan to appear before court

• Dr A Q Khan had filed an appeal in the top court against the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) September 25, 2019 judgement that had rejected a similar plea of his on the grounds that it lacked jurisdiction.
• The bench wondered as to how the petitioner first approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC), and later went to the LHC on the same subject.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday allowed nuclear physicist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan to appear before it on Wednesday.

The two-judge bench of the apex court comprising Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Yahya Afridi took up the petition filed by Dr Khan through his counsel Taufiq Asif.

Dr A Q Khan had filed an appeal in the top court against the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) September 25, 2019 judgement that had rejected a similar plea of his on the grounds that it lacked jurisdiction.

The top court had also rejected the plea of the defence ministry’s counsel to hear the case in camera.

During today’s hearing, the bench wondered as to how the petitioner first approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC), and later went to the LHC on the same subject.

Justice Yahya Afridi asked the petitioner’s counsel that it could have been better to approach the IHC again.

Dr Khan’s counsel pleaded that the petitioner was a national hero and the apex court could thereafter exercise its power under Article 189 of the Constitution.

“The petitioner himself wanted to appear before the court,” the counsel said.

Upon this argument, the court allowed Dr Khan and adjourned the hearing till Wednesday.