Court terms Bushra Bibi’s pre-arrest plea ‘premature’

 

An accountability court (AC) in Islamabad on Thursday disposed of the petition filed by Bushra Bibi, former first lady of Pakistan and PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s wife, seeking court order to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to inform her of her arrest in Toshakhana and 190 million pounds cases, saying it was ‘premature’ to file such petition, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

AC judge Muhammad Bashir, in his remarks, said that firstly the NAB had no plan to arrest Bushra. “Apart from that, as per the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) ruling, the bureau is not bound to inform the suspect of his or her arrest,” he added.

The court also disposed of PTI chairman’s wife’s bail petitions.

A few hours earlier, the court reserved its verdict on the point of arresting Bushra. 

AC judge Muhammad Bashir heard Bushra’s pre-arrest bail pleas in the Toshakhana and 190 million pounds cases.

During the hearing, Advocate Sardar Latif Khosa, counsel for Bushra, while giving arguments in the favour of his contention that his client be informed before her arrest, cited court verdicts. “Both the Supreme Court and the Lahore High Court (LHC) in their rulings have said that the suspect be informed prior to his or her arrest in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cases,” he recalled. 

Speaking on the occasion, NAB Prosecutor Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi said he would read those rulings.

The prosecutor insisted that there was no such clause in law which made it binding on the NAB to inform prior to arrest.   

The point was, Khosa added, that the NAB should not play the game of ‘hide and seek’. “If it has no plan to arrest Bushra, then her bail should be confirmed,” he insisted.

The prosecutor reiterated that the NAB was not seeking former first lady’s arrest.

It is worth-reminding here that the accountability court had granted interim bail to Bushra in both these cases.

LHC disposes of Bushra’s petition

On the other hand, the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday disposed of Bushra Bibi’s petition, seeking court order to the Punjab government officials to give details of the cases she was nominated in when the latter provided her the cases’ record.   

LHC judge Justice Aalia Neelum heard former first lady’s petition.

 

Reporters: Farzana Siddique and Malik Ashraf