The cause list of all cases of single bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) heard by Chief Justice Aamir Farooq, has been cancelled on Thursday. The cause list of the petitions of the PTI founder and lawyer Sikandar Zulqarnain, has also been cancelled. PTI founder and Sikandar Zulqarnain had filed petitions against appointment of two state defence counsels for accused in the cipher case. Sikandar Zulqarnain advocate has argued that by appointing state defence counsels, the right to cross-examination has been denied. The cancellation of the cause list has also called off hearing of the PTI founder and Sikandar Zulqarnain’s petitions.

It is to be mentioned here that the court had appointed Malik Abdul Rehman as the PTI founder’s defence counsel and Hazrat Younis to defend former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi. Judge Abual Hasnaat Muhammad Zulqarnain, in the order noted that the defence counsel on January 16 had agreed to conduct the cross-examinations but did not appear in the next two court hearings. “Despite several opportunities given to the learned counsels for accused persons, this court is left with no choice but to appoint defense counsels for the accused to conduct cross-examination of the prosecution witnesses,” the order stated.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)