Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar has constituted a three-member bench, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and comprising Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, to oversee the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) here on Tuesday.
Interestingly, all the three judges of the special bench gave the majority decision in Panama verdict and they agreed to form a JIT to probe further into the allegations leveled against the PM and his sons by Imran Khan of PTI, Siraj-ul-Haque of Jamaat-e-Islami and Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed of Awami Muslim League.
Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Justice Gulzar Ahmed both wrote the dissenting judgment in which they called for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification were not included in the special bench.
According to Supplementary Cause List issued late on Tuesday night, the special bench will meet for the first time today (Wednesday) at 1:30pm.
Moreover, the Supreme Court of Pakistan here on Tuesday appointed Additional Registrar Muhammad Ali as the coordinator of special cell that will facilitate communication between special bench and Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in probing matters related to PM Nawaz Sharif and his family properties overseas. Deputy registrar and assistant registrar of the Supreme Court will facilitate additional registrar in this regard. The role of coordinator will be one of conduit between special bench and JIT whose primary role will be to facilitate communication between the two.
As per the Panama verdict, the Joint Investigation Team will comprise one official each from National Accountability Bureau, Federal Investigation Agency, Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, State Bank of Pakistan, Inter-Services Intelligence, and Military Intelligence. The JIT will submit its final report within 60 days, however, on fortnightly basis the JIT will submit its progress report to special bench.
Justice Khosa-led 5 member bench heard a plethora of petitions submitted by opposition parties and heard the arguments by both respondents and petitioners counsels from 4th January till 23rd February and reserved the judgment. On April 20, 2017, the 3-2 split decision was announced where three judges called for further probe into financial affairs, offshore companies and foreign investments by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his two sons Hassan and Hussain Nawaz.
