ISLAMABAD: After the top court of the country stopped the proceedings of the audio leak commission and issued notices to the parties, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday insisted that Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial “must distance himself from audio leaks case to ensure that true justice is served to the aggrieved.”

Last week, the Supreme Court of Pakistan stopped a judicial probe, headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa, from investigating the audio leaks involving, among others, judges of the top court.

A five-member bench comprising Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, and Justice Shahid Waheed issued their reserved verdict.

Speaking in the National Assembly, Asif, a loyalist of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif, while referring to a five-judge bench order of the apex court, said that the top judge should not sit in the bench to ensure justice.

Asif recalled that the then chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had recused himself when a case involving his son Arsalan Iftikhar and real estate tycoon Malik Riaz was being heard.

He said that the ex-chief justice recused himself from the case due to the conflict of interest, adding such norms and precedents had been abandoned by few judges of the apex court.

“If the then chief justice [Iftikhar Chaudhry] can recuse himself, why can’t the incumbent chief justice follow the same precedent to stop influencing the justice (proceedings)in the audio leaks case,” he questioned.

He reiterated the government had only intended by constituting the judicial commission, which included the members of the judiciary to ensure transparency in court’s proceedings.

He claimed that Chief Justice Bandial scuttled the senior judge of the Supreme Court and the chief justice of the Balochistan High Court from the commission.

“We hadn’t appointed any lawmaker or someone outside judiciary in the audio leaks commission,” he added.

He alleged that the top judge stopped the proceedings of the judicial commission as his mother-in-law’s audio was supposed to be investigated.

“We expected the chief justice would keep himself out of this [matter] to ensure justice,” he said, adding an impression was being given that the audio calls were recorded via bugging of telephones or devices.

He dispelled the impression that audio leaks were tapped indigenously, adding “one can hack phone devices while sitting in the UK or abroad”.

“There is no listening device required for it. International hackers are doing this. Many superpowers like the US had faced breaches of information by the hacking of international hackers,” he added.

He continued that a committee was formed by NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on the alleged audio leak of ex-chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar’s son.

BILLS: The house passed Pakistan General Cosmetics Bill, 2023.

The bill moved by James Iqbal is aimed at regulating the quality, standard, labelling, packing, manufacturing, storage, distribution and sales of general cosmetics.

The House also passed “The Export Processing Zones Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2023.”

The statement of objects and reasons of the Export Processing Zones Authority bill says that Export Processing Zones Authority is a Pakistan Government venture conceived and designed to increase and improve the exports of the country.

Its main objectives are accelerating the pace of industrialization in the country and enhancing the volume of exports by creating an enabling environment for investors to initiate ambitious export-oriented projects in the Zones which would, as a corollary, create job opportunities, bring in new technology and attract foreign investment.

With the passage of time, the need has arisen to establish Private and Public Participated Export Processing Zones under the Export Processing Zones Authority Ordinance, 1980 (IV of 1980).

The purpose of this amendment is to define and include Private and Public Participated Export Processing Zones within the definition of Zones to meet the objectives.

The National Institute of Technology Bill, 2023 was also laid before the house. The chair referred the bill to the standing committee concerned for further deliberations.

The house also adopted an amendment in Rule 49 of the Rules of Procedure of Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007.

Salahuddin Ayubi of JUI-F who moved the bill said under the amendment, there shall be a 15-minute break in the house after the prayer call.

Meanwhile, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, said that total deficit of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa stood at Rs987 billion in the last nine years of rule of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in the province.

He said that the total deficit of KP was a mere Rs27 billion which has now reached Rs987 billion due to bad governance and corruption of the PTI government.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023