Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Wednesday that PML-N’s legal team will be approaching two judges of the Supreme Court to recuse themselves from hearing the cases against the party leadership.
In a series of tweets, Sanaullah named the judges and alleged that they “have a biased attitude towards the PML-N”.
Sanaullah recalled that one of the judges had been the supervising judge in cases against party supremo Nawaz Sharif and “we have no expectations of justice from him”.
He also mentioned a purported audio leak related to the second judge, saying that it had “raised questions on his impartiality”.
The minister went on to say that both judges had passed “opposing” verdicts in dozens of cases against Nawaz and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, including Panama, Ramzan Sugar Mills, and Pakpattan Land Allotment (against the Sharifs family members).
He said it was a legal and judicial tradition that “controversial” judges voluntarily recused themselves from the bench at the request of the aggrieved party.
“The legal team of PML-N will ask the two judges to recuse themselves from the benches hearing the cases of Nawaz Sharif and other leaders of the party,” Sanaullah stated, adding that the two judges will be asked not to hear cases of the PML-N.
The development comes a day after PM Shehbaz completed consultation with the legal brains of the government during a meeting on Tuesday.
A party insider told Dawn that the “bold move” would pay off in case both the judges in question recuse themselves from the cases against the PML-N leaders especially Nawaz Sharif which might pave the way for his return from London.
“Nawaz Sharif wants relief in the Al-Azizia corruption case (in which he was serving a seven-year imprisonment) before returning to his homeland,” the insider said.
Defence Minister Khwaja Asif also told a private channel that the PML-N direly needed Nawaz Sharif back home to lead the party to match with Imran Khan’s PTI.
The PML-N leadership has already started taking on the apex court judges in public rallies and press conferences.
Moreover, PML-N chief organiser Maryam Nawaz recently asked for accountability in the judiciary and said “Pakistan needed honest judges instead of the ones who allegedly favoured Imran Khan.”
She said the judges named in the purported audio leak should have the moral courage to resign from their post. “Imran Khan is looking to get support from the judiciary to come back to power after failing to get support from the establishment,” she added.
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