ISLAMABAD: The cause list of all cases of single bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) heard by Chief Justice Aamir Farooq, has been cancelled on Thursday.
The cancelled cause list included the petitions of the PTI founder and lawyer Sikandar Zulqarnain.
PTI founder and Sikandar Zulqarnain had filed petitions against appointment of two state defence counsels for accused in the cypher case.
Advocate Sikandar Zulqarnain has argued, in the plea, that the court had struck of the right to cross-examination of the defence by appointing state defence counsels.
It is to be mentioned here that the Special Court had appointed Malik Abdul Rehman as the PTI founder’s defence counsel and Hazrat Younis to defend former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the Cypher case.
Judge Abual Hasnaat Muhammad Zulqarnain, in the order noted that the defence counsel on January 16 had agreed to conduct the cross-examinations but did not appear in the next two court hearings.
“Despite several opportunities given to the learned counsels for accused persons, this court is left with no choice but to appoint defense counsels for the accused to conduct cross-examination of the prosecution witnesses,” the order stated.
