The Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa on Tuesday remarked that the Supreme Court can provide no relief to former prime minister Nawaz Sharif unless the Islamabad High Court rules in his favour.
The court further observed as to “why no one from the Sharif family had approached the high court to seek relief for the deposed premier from his conviction”.
The three-judge bench headed by the CJP and comprising Sheikh Azmat and Justice Umar was hearing the petitions seeking probe in the leaked video case involving accountability court judge Arshad Malik.
"It is strange that those [PML-N] interested in the release of Nawaz have not yet approached the IHC because that is the only real forum to get relief,” the chief justice remarked.
He further said that the leaked-video scandal along with the alleged misconduct of the accountability court judge will not go unattended. “However we are not in a hurry, we don’t want a prejudiced trial,” he added.
“The high court, too, has the authority to probe the matter,” CJP Khosa said, adding that the IHC can launch an investigation through an appellant forum or through its constitutional authority under Article 203 wherein it supervises affairs of the accountability court.
Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan, while deliberating the matter earlier, recommended that the SC should leave the matter at the discretion of the IHC.
However, another member of bench Justice Umar Ata Bandial said that they have to establish the truth. “We are looking for remedy for those who are aggrieved. We want to protect integrity of institution. We are not just examining the allegations of complainant,” he added.
