LAHORE -  Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah yesterday constituted a full bench on multiole petitions filed against the Prime Minister and others for having offshore companies in wake of Panama leaks.

The LHC bench, comprising Justice Shahbaz Ali Rizvi and Justice Mirza Viqas Rauf, would take up the petition next week.

PTI leader Gohar Nawaz Sindhu, journalist Asad Kharal and others had filed the petitions, in which they argued that the Panama Papers had revealed corruption at the larger level which instead of being investigated was being delayed. The Panama leaks being very much sensitive about corruption must be investigated to bring the culprits to justice, they demanded, as the allegations of corruption against Pakistani rulers brought a bad name to the country across the globe.

They further held that state functionaries including NAB were doing nothing in this regard despite that they were approached time and again. Unfortunately, no investigation had been initiated so far, they said in the petitons.

The petitioners contended that there was no reason for the National Accountablity Bureau for not initiating an inquiry into allegations of Panama leaks against the rulers after Chief Justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali refused to constitute judicial commission without a consensus between government and opposition on ToRs.

According to the petitoners, section 18 of the NAB ordinance empowered the bureau to initiate inquiry into any matter on its own.

They prayed the court to direct the bureaue to start an investigation into the allegations of offshore companies established by the rulers and others.

Court moved against PTI

A writ petition seeking directions to bar Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf from taking out rally in Islamabad and blocking it on Oct 30 was filed in the Lahore High Court yesterday.

Atif Sattar, a local citizen, filed the petition through his counsel AK Dogar. The petitioner termed the decision of PTI as an ‘act of sedition’. He maintained that Imran Khan during his speech at Raiwind transgressed fundamental rights of freedom of speech, which was subject to law and public decency.

The petitoner further pleaded that the respondent be restrained from exciting hatred contempt and disaffection against lawfully elected government and locking federal capital up. He requested the court to punish the respondent for sedition if he continues his ‘unconstitutional’ activities under Section 124-A of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).