A top Pakistani judge on Monday said that members of the powerful armed forces and judges of constitutional courts were “fully liable” under accountability laws like any other public servant. Supreme Court judge Mansoor Ali Shah made this observation in a dissenting note for the apex court’s September 15 verdict which struck down changes to the accountability laws and ordered the restoration of graft cases against public office holders, Dawn newspaper reported.

In a majority 2-1 verdict, the apex court bench headed by then-chief justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising justices Shah and Ijaz Ul Ahsan annulled some amendments made to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999 during the tenure of the previous Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led government.

The verdict was given on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party Chairman Imran Khan’s plea challenging amendments made to the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) laws.

Justice Bandial and Justice Ahsan had declared Khan’s plea to be maintainable while Justice Shah had disagreed with the majority verdict, saying that not just the corruption cases but inquiries and investigations should also be restored.

In the detailed note issued on Monday, Justice Shah concluded that Khan’s petition was “meritless”.

He noted that the petitioner’s counsel “utterly failed to clearly establish beyond any reasonable doubt that the challenged amendments in the NAB Ordinance are constitutionally invalid on the touchstone of ‘taking away’ or ‘abridging’ any of the fundamental rights”.

On the matter of members of the armed forces being held accountable, which had previously been discussed in multiple hearings of the case, Justice Shah noted that the “generally professed opinion that members of the armed forces and the judges of the constitutional courts are not triable under the anti-corruption criminal laws of the land, requires some clarification”.

He highlighted that such an understanding would “make the members of the armed forces and the judges of the constitutional courts untouchable and above the law”.

The same would be “reprehensible and revolting to the conscience of the people of Pakistan and bring the court into serious disrepute”, the judge added.“We must, therefore, strongly shun the above generally professed opinion and be clear that members of armed forces and the judges of the constitutional courts are fully liable under the NAB Ordinance, like any other public servant of Pakistan,” he stated.

The powerful military has directly ruled for about half of the history of Pakistan and remained in control of the country’s affairs during the other half.