The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to produce PTI Chairman Imran Khan within an hour.
The directives come after Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial termed the PTI leader’s arrest from the premises of Islamabad High Court (IHC) as a mighty disgrace to the country’s judicial establishment.
“A verdict will be issued today,” CJP said.
The PTI had filed a petition in the Supreme Court, challenging the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) decision calling party chief Imran Khan’s arrest by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) “legal”.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, is hearing the case.
During the hearing, Chief Justice Bandial criticised the manner in which Imran was arrested. He further said that permission to arrest the former prime minister was not taken from Islamabad High Court.
At the outset of the hearing, one of Imran’s counsels, Hamid Khan, appeared on the rostrum and informed the apex court that his client had approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for pre-arrest bail.
His lawyer said that Imran was in the process of getting his biometrics done when he was arrested. “Rangers misbehaved with Imran Khan and arrested him,” the lawyer said.
CJP Bandial observed that court records showed that the case had not been fixed for hearing. The lawyer told the court that the appeal could not be filed without completing the biometric process.
On this point, Justice Athar Minallah inquired if a plea can be filed before the bio-metric verification is conducted.
At this, the lawyer said that Imran Khan went for bio-metric verification because a plea cannot be filed before that.
“Why did NAB take the law in its hand? It would have been better for NAB to seek permission from IHC registrar,” Justice Minallah asked.
He said that every citizen has the right to get justice and the apex court had to ensure its provision. The judge also regretted the current situation in the country.
