Meet the five-member bench behind the Panama Papers verdict

A five member bench of the Supreme Court announced the verdict in the Panama Papers case.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on July 28 disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for failing to disclose his un-withdrawn receivables constituting assets from UAE-based Capital FZE in his nominations papers for the 2013 elections.

The court ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file a reference against the accused in an accountability court in six weeks and directed for the trial to be wrapped up within six months.

This was the same five member bench which announced the April 20 verdict in the Panama Leaks case. 

Here’s a look at the brief profiles of the honourable judges who heard the case

Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa

Born on December 21, 1954, in Dera Ghazi Khan, Justice Khosa was elevated to the Supreme Court as a judge on February 18, 2010. 

He has given verdict on more than 50,000 cases in 18 years. Justice Khosa, who has also authored four books, was part of the seven-member bench, which heard the former PM Yousuf Raza Gillani’s contempt of court case. He was one of the two judges who wanted to disqualify Nawaz Sharif.

Justice Gulzar Ahmed

Born on February, 1957 in Karachi, Justice Gulzar Ahmed was elevated to the Supreme Court on November 16, 2011. 

He started out as an Advocate of the High Court, later served as Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Later, he was elected as Honorary Secretary of the Sindh High Court Bar Association and then became a Judge of Sindh High Court in 2002, before serving as a Judge of Supreme Court.  He was the other dissenting judge in the Panama case.

Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan

Born on May 18, 1953, in Mansehra, Justice Ejaz Afzal got promoted to serve as the Supreme Court judge on November 17, 2011. 

After serving as the judge of the Peshawar High Court for nine years, he was appointed Chief Justice on October 20, 2009.

Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan

Born in Muree in 1960, Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan was elevated to the Supreme Court in June 2016. After completing his LLB from Punjab University Law College, he went to Cornell University for his post graduation. 

He was confirmed as a judge of the Lahore High Court in 2011 and appointed as Chief Justice of Lahore High Court in 2015. He has also worked as an inspection judge for Kasur, Gujranwala and Lahore districts.

Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed

Born on August 28, 1954, in Rawalpindi, Justice Azmat Saeed was elevated to the Supreme Court on 2012. He started as an advocate of the High Court of Lahore in 1980 and later became the advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the subsequent year.

Along with serving as legal adviser to Lahore Development Authority and Special Prosecutor of Ehtesab Bureau, he has worked in a many high profile cases.

 

*This story was first published on April 20