{"id":12739,"date":"2026-03-27T11:29:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T11:29:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hrnww.com\/?p=12739"},"modified":"2026-03-27T11:29:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T11:29:19","slug":"bench-reconstituted-for-pti-founders-review-petition-in-shehbaz-sharif-defamation-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hrnww.com\/?p=12739","title":{"rendered":"Bench Reconstituted for PTI Founder&#8217;s Review Petition in Shehbaz Sharif Defamation Case"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"model-response-message-contentr_3993c0a0fb7f0384\" class=\"markdown markdown-main-panel enable-updated-hr-color\" dir=\"ltr\" aria-live=\"polite\" aria-busy=\"false\">\n<p data-path-to-node=\"0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">ISLAMABAD: (HRNW)\u00a0<\/b>In a significant legal development, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has reconstituted the three-member bench scheduled to hear the review petition filed by the PTI Founder regarding his &#8220;right of defense&#8221; in the defamation lawsuit initiated by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"2\"><b data-path-to-node=\"2\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Key Changes to the Judicial Bench:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"3\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3,0,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"3,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">New Leadership:<\/b> The newly formed three-member bench will now be headed by <b data-path-to-node=\"3,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"74\">Justice Hashim Khan Kakar<\/b>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3,1,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"3,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Bench Members:<\/b> The bench includes <b data-path-to-node=\"3,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"34\">Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb<\/b> and <b data-path-to-node=\"3,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"71\">Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim<\/b>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3,2,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"3,2,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Notable Substitution:<\/b> Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb has replaced <b data-path-to-node=\"3,2,0\" data-index-in-node=\"68\">Justice Ayesha Malik<\/b>, who was previously presiding over the proceedings.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3,3,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"3,3,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Hearing Date:<\/b> The reconstituted bench is set to formally hear the review petition on <b data-path-to-node=\"3,3,0\" data-index-in-node=\"85\">March 31, 2026<\/b>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4\"><b data-path-to-node=\"4\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Case Background:<\/b><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4\">The legal battle stems from a defamation claim filed by Shehbaz Sharif following allegations made by the PTI Founder regarding an alleged bribe offer during the Panama Papers case. Previously, a three-member bench led by former judge <b data-path-to-node=\"4\" data-index-in-node=\"251\">Mansoor Ali Shah<\/b> had dismissed the PTI Founder\u2019s plea against the trial court&#8217;s decision to terminate his right of defense. Following that dismissal, a review petition was filed in the Supreme Court, the fate of which now rests with the newly appointed judges.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">Legal experts suggest that the outcome of the March 31 hearing will be pivotal in determining whether the PTI Founder will be permitted to present a formal defense in the trial court or if the previous restrictions will remain in force.<\/p>\n<hr data-path-to-node=\"6\" \/>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7\">Upholding judicial transparency and reporting on the evolution of constitutional rights are core to our mission. To support our continued coverage of high-profile legal proceedings and democratic accountability, please consider contributing to our work at <a class=\"ng-star-inserted\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=http:\/\/hrnww.com\/support-us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-hveid=\"0\" data-ved=\"0CAAQ_4QMahcKEwjvl5Dt-7-TAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQYw\">hrnww.com\/support-us<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"9\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD: (HRNW)\u00a0In a significant legal development, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has reconstituted the three-member bench scheduled to hear the review petition filed by the PTI Founder regarding his &#8220;right of defense&#8221; in the defamation lawsuit initiated by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Key Changes to the Judicial Bench: New Leadership: The newly formed three-member bench&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-court-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hrnww.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hrnww.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hrnww.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hrnww.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hrnww.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12739"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hrnww.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12745,"href":"https:\/\/www.hrnww.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12739\/revisions\/12745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hrnww.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hrnww.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hrnww.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hrnww.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}