After Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial struck down the NAB Amendments on his final day in the office, senior lawyer Haider Waheed believes that by reopening all the cases and inquiries against top political leadership of the country, the Supreme Court has handed back all the keys to National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Speaking on Naya Daur TV’s flagship show Khabar Say Aagay (Beyond the Headlines) on Friday, Haider Waheed said that cases against Nawaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari and Shehbaz Sharif will be reopened after this verdict. “Although these leaders haven’t been convicted, by reopening these cases, Supreme Court has put NAB in charge of the national politics once again,” Haider added.
He however argued that this decision could soon be overturned by another set of judges if Justice Qazi Faez Isa, after taking over as Chief Justice, gave a nod to the Supreme Court (Review of Judgments and Orders) Act, 2023. There are other judges who must be in agreement with Justice Mansoor Ali Shah’s dissenting note which argues in favour of the parliament’s right to amend the said law.
Political analyst Muzamal Suharwardy also agreed with Haider Waheed, terming CJ Bandial’s judgement as nothing more than a storm in a teacup. “The next parliament will again change the law. If anything, striking down the NAB amendments will only create problems for Imran Khan as he’s the only one currently facing NAB inquiries in corruption cases,” he said.
Senior politician Muhammad Ali Durrani, who’s recently met President Arif Alvi, revealed on the show that the motive behind the meeting was to give him the message that the doors for negotiations must always be kept open and measures should be taken to reduce the tensions among various players on the political scene.
Responding to the reports that he was working on a ‘minus-Imran’ formula, Durrani said no PTI leader would ever agree on such a formula and he also didn’t believe that such formulas could work in Pakistani politics. “If we couldn’t minus Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif from national politics after all these years, we can’t do it to Imran Khan either,” Durrani noted.
Beyond the Headlines is hosted by Raza Rumi Monday-Thursday 9 PM (Pakistan Time) only on nayadaur.tv