ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif wants a former judge who sentenced him to life imprisonment in a plane hijacking case in 2000 to be the new accountability czar of the country.
The Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Khursheed Shah, who is the second key voice in the appointment of the National Accountability Bureau chairman, is unlikely to object to Justice Rehmat Hasan Jafferi from Larkana, the political stronghold of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), taking over the new role.
As a judge of the Anti-Terrorism Court in Karachi, Jafferi imposed life term on Sharif, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief has always been appreciative of the way he conducted the trial while Pervez Musharraf was ruling the roost. “We should have judges like Jafferi,” Sharif once said.
Jafferi was under pressure from the military regime to award capital punishment to Sharif, but he refused to oblige. During the trial, his certain actions exasperated Musharraf. But he did not show signs of being coerced and bullied by the masters of the day although strong-arm methods were employed against him to force him to dance to the official tunes.
In February this year, President Asif Ali Zardari claimed that he saved Sharif from being hanged by Musharraf in 2000. “I had some acquaintance with Jafferi, and when I heard Musharraf was pressuring him into punishing Sharif, I advised him to settle the case on merit. I was successful in convincing Jafferi against announcing capital punishment for him.” Internews
