NAB amendments case: Khwaja Haris to represent Imran in SC on 28th

ISLAMABAD: Senior lawyer of the Supreme Court (SC) Khwaja Haris will appear before the Supreme Court (SC) next week as counsel for former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in the NAB amendments case.

The news about Khwaja Haris leaving the legal team of former prime minister in the Toshakhana case widely appeared in the media on Thursday. Sources said Haris had left the legal team after developing some reservations over the discipline issue.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Umer Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsen and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah will hear the petition of Imran Khan, challenging the amendments made by the former coalition government to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999, on August 28.

On the last hearing held on August 18, the court had directed counsels for the PTI chief Imran Khan and Makhdoom Ali Khan, counsel for the previous government, to prepare themselves for final arguments in the case.

During the course of hearing, Chief Justice of Pakistan Umer Ata Bandial had observed it would be an embarrassment for him if he did not decide before his retirement the petition challenging the amendments made to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999 while Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah stressed for constituting a full court for hearing the instant matter.

Chief Justice Umer Ata Bandial will retire on September 16 and Justice Qazi Faez Isa, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, will take oath as the next Chief Justice of Pakistan.

Khwaja Haris, who had extensively argued before the trial court, Islamabad High Court, representing Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case, reportedly refused to appear in Khan’s cases.

In his place, Sardar Latif Khosa on Thursday appeared before a two-member bench of Islamabad High Court led by Chief Justice Aamir Farooq, hearing the appeal of former premier Imran Khan who had challenged his conviction by the trial court on August 5 in the Toshakhana reference case.

Sources close to the senior lawyer revealed that he had serious reservations over the induction of other lawyers representing the former premier in scores of appeals pending before the Islamabad High Court challenging the trial court order of August 5 after he was sentenced for three years in the Toshakhana reference and since then he was imprisoned in the Attock jail.

“I have been directed by the court to present my final arguments in NAB amendment case and I have to comply with the court’s order,” Khwaja Haris told The News on Thursday when approached. Haris had extensively argued before the court in 19 hearings of the instant matter and he was now required to make his final arguments before the court.

When asked regarding the news about his exit from the legal team of Imran Khan as the lead counsel, Khwaja Haris repeatedly avoided to comment on the news but said that he would appear before the Supreme Court on August 28 in the NAB law amendments case.