Khawaja Asif to appear before SC as defence minister

KARACHI: A day after Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry warned the defence minister to appear before the Supreme Court on Thursday (today), in a case pertaining to 35 undeclared detainees allegedly taken away by the army, or face consequences, Khawaja Muhammad Asif will defend his government before the country’s top court as defence minister.

The portfolio of defence minister was held by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and it was apparently due to the chief justice’s warning that he gave the additional charge of defence minister to Khawaja Muhammad Asif, who is also Water and Power Minister.

The order came during a missing persons’ case taken up by a three-judge bench headed by the chief justice in the Lahore registry of the apex court.

The bench will hear the case today at its Karachi registry.