ISLAMABAD: A day after former Prime Minister Chairman Imran Khan’s lawyer Khawaja Haris was reported to have quit the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) legal team, the senior lawyer will appear before the Supreme Court (SC). The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to represent the PTI chief in the amendment case, JEE News reported on Friday.
On Thursday, it was reported that Harris had parted ways with PTI’s legal team due to “lack of discipline” due to misunderstandings.
Sources close to the senior lawyer revealed that he has serious reservations about including other lawyers representing the former prime minister in several appeals pending before the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
The petitions challenged the trial court’s August 5 order after Khan was sentenced to three years in the Tosha Khana reference. Since the verdict, the former prime minister has been behind the bars of Attock Jail.
“I have been directed by the court to present my final arguments in the NAB amendment case and I have to comply with the court’s order,” Khawaja Haris said when contacted by JEE News on Thursday.
Harris had made extensive arguments before the court in 19 hearings on the matter and now he was required to give his final arguments before the court.
Harris repeatedly declined to comment on the reports when asked about his exit from Khan’s legal team as lead counsel. However, he said that he will appear in the Supreme Court on August 28 in the NAB law amendment case.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Atta Bandial, comprising Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, will hear Imran Khan’s application, which was made by the former coalition government. The amendments have been challenged. National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999, dated 28 August.
During the last hearing on August 18, the court had directed the lawyers of PTI chief and former government lawyer Makhdoom Ali Khan to prepare themselves for final arguments in the case.
Throughout the hearing, Chief Justice Bandyal observed that it would be an embarrassment to him if he did not decide the petition challenging the amendments made in NAO 1999 before his retirement. Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah insisted on constituting a full court for the immediate hearing of the matter.
The Chief Justice will retire on September 16 and the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, Justice Qazi Faiz Isa, will take oath as the next Chief Justice of Pakistan.
Haris, who represented the former prime minister in the Tosha Khana case and made extensive arguments before the trial court and the High Court, reportedly refused to appear in Khan’s cases.
In his place, Sardar Latif Khosa appeared on Thursday before a two-member bench of the Islamabad High Court, headed by Chief Justice Amir Farooq, which heard the appeal of the former prime minister, who had moved the trial court on August 5 in the Tosha Khana reference case.
