ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder on Thursday appeared before the Supreme Court (SC) bench in the National Accountability (NAB) Ordinance 1999 amendment case. 

A five-member SC larger bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, and also comprising Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi is hearing the case.

Arrangements to ensure the PTI founder’s appearance before the Supreme Court bench via video link were finalised in light of the apex court’s order.

The proceedings of the case are not being live-streamed on the SC’s YouTube channel.

At the outset of the hearing, Khawaja Haris came to the rostrum, at which the chief justice said the former was a counsel in the “original case”, hence his absence was upsetting. “We would also want to hear your stance,” the CJP remarked.

“Did you submit the bill for the fee as a lawyer?”, the top judge asked. “No I do not need a free,” the lawyer replied to the CJP.

The top asked why it took so long to decide on a case related to a few amendments.

The federal government’s lawyer Makhdoom Ali Khan said the case was prolonged on the point of its admissibility. The same was narrated in the final order of the Supreme Court, he added.

CJP Justice Qazi Faez Isa asked Makhdoom Ali Khan to make his arguments loudly so that the PTI founder could listen to him on the video link.

During the hearing, the matter of delaying general elections also came to light. The CJP in a friendly argument with Justice Athar Minallah remarked that we solved the issue within 12 days.

“We solved the election matter within 12 days after you [Justice Minallah] joined me,” the top judge said.