The Supreme Court on Thursday resumed hearing a case about changes in accountability laws, with the bench deliberating whether to broadcast the proceedings live.
A five-member bench — headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and including Justices Athar Minallah, Aminuddin Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, and Hasan Azhar Rizvi — resumed hearing the case.
The last hearing had turned out anticlimactic as ex-premier Imran Khan had appeared via video link but did not get a chance to speak as a petitioner in the matter.
Earlier this month, the SC had ordered the federal and Punjab governments to facilitate Imran’s appearance before the court via video link from Adiala jail, where he is currently incarcerated.
While the May 14 hearing had been broadcast live, the last one was not, with the reason remaining unclear.
As per the court orders at the last hearing, Imran again appeared via video link today.
The judges then introduced a short break in the proceedings, retiring to mull whether to livestream the hearing or not. “We will let you know in a bit about live-streaming the case,” the court said.
Justice Minallah — who had earlier stated that the top court could not deny an audience to the ex-premier if he wished to appear before it for the case —
expressed his support for the live stream.
“If the case used to be broadcast live earlier, it should be streamed live right now as well,” he observed.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa attorney general said the case pertained to public interest, to which CJP Isa replied, “This is a technical case; there is no affair of public interest in it.”
More to follow
