LAHORE: A Lahore High Court division bench on Tuesday reserved its verdict on an appeal of PML-N leader Raja Hanif Abbasi against his sentence in the ephedrine quota case.

The bench comprising Justice Aalia Neelum and Justice Asjad Javed Ghural heard concluding arguments of the lawyers for the appellant and the government before it reserved the verdict.

The bench is likely to announce its decision on Wednesday (today).

A special court for control of narcotic substance (CNS) had awarded life imprisonment along with a fine of Rs1 million to Abbasi days before the last general elections on July 21, 2018, in the ephedrine quota case.

The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) had registered the case against Abbasi and others in 2012 under sections 9-C, 14 and 15 of the Control of Narcotics Substances (CNS) Act for misuse of 500kg of ephedrine.

Abbasi was contesting election against his main rival, Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, of the Awami Muslim League from NA-60, Rawalpindi, but he stood disqualified following the guilty verdict four days before the polling day.

The trial judge had announced the conviction around midnight to meet a deadline set by a single judge of the Lahore High Court’s Rawalpindi bench.

The LHC in a directive of June 11, 2018, had ordered the trial court to announce its verdict by July 21.

The appeal filed by Abbasi said the conviction was politically motivated as only one out of eight suspects of the case was convicted and that was the appellant. It said the appellant never misused the ephedrine quota but the trial court ignored basic legal questions before handing down the impugned sentence.

It argued that the ephedrine did not fall within the definition of scheduled drug or controlled narcotics. However, it said the trial judge relied upon a definition of ephedrine explored on Google.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2023