ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) legal team has planned to ask two judges of the Supreme Court to recuse themselves from hearing cases against the party leadership, according to Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan.
In a series of tweets, Khan named the judges — Ijaz ul-Ahsan and Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi — and alleged they have a biased attitude towards PML-N. One of them had supervised cases against deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif, and the party expects no justice from him, said Khan.
He also referred to an audio leak apparently related to Naqvi, questioning his impartiality. The legal team of PML-N will request both judges to step down from benches hearing cases of the party’s leaders, the minister added.
The decision comes after Shehbaz Sharif consulted with the government’s legal team on Tuesday.
Quoting a party insider, Dawn reported the move will pay off if both judges step down from the cases against the party’s supreme leader, who is in London, opening the way for his return.
Sharif wants relief in the Al-Azizia Mills corruption case before returning home, the insider said. He was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined $25 million in the case in December 2018 after the court ruled he was unable to prove the source of income that had led to his ownership of the steel mill in Saudi Arabia. Under the law, this is taken to prove corruption.
Recently, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif has also stressed the need for Sharif’s return to lead the party.
The PML-N has been publicly criticising the apex court judges in rallies and press conferences. Recently, PML-N chief organizer Maryam Nawaz called for accountability in the judiciary and expressed the need for honest judges instead of those allegedly favouring Prime Minister Imran Khan.
She also urged the judges named in the purported audio leak to resign from their posts and accused Khan of “trying to get support from the judiciary” to come back to power after “failing to get support” from the establishment.
