ISLAMABAD - Minister of State for Petroleum Dr Musadik Malik on Monday emphasized that justice should be dispensed without any discrimination and that all political leaders should be treated equally under the law. Addressing a press conference, the minister stressed the need for judicial reforms as currently the judiciary’s impartiality was being “compromised”. He said a judge should remain impartial and “political biases” should not reflect in the verdicts. He cited Justice Athar Minallah’s opinion that “judges should not be politicians in robes”. The minister referred to the apex court bench which heard the provincial assemblies election case, raising the question over its constitution. The number of judges in the bench was first reduced from nine to seven and then to five, he added.
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Musadik Malik said “Justice should be equal for all, and personal biases should not influence the judicial system.” He, however, pointed out that the leadership of different political parties were not being treated equally, citing the example of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who made ‘hundreds of court appearances’ without getting any relief. Same was the case for other PML-N leaders, while on the other hand, Imran Khan was continuously getting bails, he added. “Discriminatory treatment”, he said, was also evident in the case of business tycoon Malik Riaz, who had allegedly given 450 kanals of land to Imran Khan and in return, got benefits of billions of rupees from the ousted prime minister. Musadik Malik also mentioned the case of Arif Naqvi, who under the agreement was bound to invest billions of dollars in the power sector, but he was let scot free by the former prime minister after receiving two to three million pounds from him.
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There was such a sorry state of affairs causing huge losses to national exchequer, but Imran Khan was persistently being bailed out, he added. The minister said in the Mustafa Impex case, all the powers vested in the prime minister were given to the cabinet by the apex court and same should be case with other institutions, including judiciary. It would help strengthen the institutions instead of the individuals, he added. The legislative bill regarding the suo moto powers, he said, would strengthen the institution with the involvement of senior judges.