Accountability Court’s judge who convicted two PMS retires

ISLAMABAD: Accountability Court judge Muhammad Bashir who convicted two former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan and their family members, has finally hung up his robes.

Bashir was appointed as the Islamabad Accountability Court-i judge on March 13, 2012, during the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) rule and served in the position for 12 years thanks to two extensions granted respectively by the Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) governments.

When the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed three references against Nawaz Sharif and his family members on the order of the Supreme Court in 2017, Bashir presided over the Avenfield case.

In July 2018, he convicted Sharif, his daughter Maryam, and son-in-law Safdar, sentencing them to different prison terms.

However, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) later overturned this verdict.

The judge also oversaw the NAB reference filed against Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi for misusing the state’s gits repository.

During the trial, he requested leave until his retirement, a request rejected by the Ministry of Law. On Jan.31, the judge convicted both Imran and his wife, sentencing them each to 14 years in prison.

Ater that, he once again sought leave until his retirement on health grounds.

Bashir was also adjudicating NAB cases against former prime ministers Yousaf Raza Gillani, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, as well as PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

Bashir was the only judge in the history of the NAB’S accountability courts that he headed one of them for such a long time.

Generally, judges of such courts are transferred ater three years.

Once when he was about to be repatriated to the subordinate judiciary on completion of his tenure long time ago, the Supreme Court, then presided over by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, ordered authorities not to transfer Bashir until he concludes the three references against Nawaz Sharif, his daughter and others.