News Analysis |
On Thursday, the Supreme Court (SC) in an in-chamber hearing rejected former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s petition to club together the three references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against him for the second time.
On December 2nd 2017, the ousted Prime Minister had petitioned the Supreme Court (SC) against its earlier rejection of his request to club the three accountability references against him into one. Sharif had earlier petitioned the apex court regarding the clubbing of the corruption references, however the SC registrar rejected this petition.
The Supreme Court for the second time establishing the rule of law and demonstrating that no man in Pakistan is exempt from it.
The former PM then appealed against the registrar’s decision, with his counsel stating that filing three separate references was “illegal, and violates the law and the Constitution, besides being violative of his [Sharif’s] fundamental rights”.
Read more: Nawaz Sharif and family appear before NAB court
The ex-PM has had a long-standing feud with the judiciary throughout his three terms as Prime Minister. On July 28th, 2017, the SC had disqualified Sharif from holding public office in a landmark decision on the Panama Papers case, also ordering NAB to open references against him and his family, and other respondents.
“Obedience to the Constitution and law is the inviolable obligation of every citizen wherever he may be and of every other person for the time being within Pakistan.”
After this landmark decision the ex-PM appealed to the Supreme Court to declare his disqualification from holding public office as illegal challenging the law at its foundations and undermining the sovereignty of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The Supreme Court questioned the grounds on which Sharif could challenge his disqualification when his review petition has already been officially dismissed.
The ex-PM seems to consider himself exempt from the law and unbound by the Constitution despite article 5 clearly stating “Obedience to the Constitution and law is the inviolable obligation of every citizen wherever he may be and of every other person for the time being within Pakistan.”
Read more: NAB preparing to declare Dar “Proclaimed Offender”
Following the decision of the disqualification, the Supreme Court also ordered NAB to open references against him and his family. Today the ex-PM’s petition to get these NAB references against him clubbed has been rejected by the Supreme Court for the second time establishing the rule of law and demonstrating that no man in Pakistan is exempt from it.