Observer Report Lahore
The matter of bail for Pakistan Muslim League-N President Shahbaz Sharif became controversial when the two judges hearing the case wrote conflicting notes.
Justice Sarfaraz Dogar granted Shahbaz bail and announced it formally through a short order a couple of days ago.
However, Justice Asjad Javed Gharral wrote a contradictory note in the detailed verdict and said his opinion was ignored in the short verdict.
In his dissenting note, Justice Asjad said his colleague Justice Sarfaraz granted bail to Shahbaz despite his opposition.
He said he asked Justice Sarfaraz first in his chamber and then in the courtroom to dismiss the bail application, but he did not.
He said that Justice Sarfaraz wrote a short order in this case and sent it to him, but a short order in this case was not justified. He said that Justice Sarfaraz granted Shahbaz bail on his own.
Justice Sarfaraz said the decision was being sent to the Lahore High Court chief justice and he would appoint a referee judge to give a final verdict in this case.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-N on Sunday expressed reservations over the ‘conflicting note’ issued four days after the court had granted the bail to party president Shahbaz Sharif.
In a statement, PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said this had happened for the first time in the judicial history of Pakistan that a ‘conflicting note’ had appeared four days after the bail was granted.
“We have been visiting the court for four days to get bail orders but every time we were told those were not signed yet,” she said and added “It’s very painful.”
The Lahore High Court had issued its detailed verdict on bail granted to PML-N leader Shehbaz Sharif in an alleged money laundering reference.