The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday told the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director general to bring back the officers who were investigating the Haj scam but were transferred, otherwise their transfer orders would be cancelled.
A four-member larger bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed and Justice Ghulam Rabbani was hearing a suo motu case pertaining to corruption and mismanagement in Haj arrangements.
Appearing on notice, Establishment Division Secretary Abdul Rauf Chaudhry told the court that the FIA’s investigator Zafar Qureshi, who was probing the Haj scam, was transferred after receiving a letter from the FIA stating that he had completed the investigation assigned to him, thus he might be transferred. He said Hussain Asghar, another investigator who was probing the Haj scam, had been made inspector general of Gilgit-Baltistan Police.
He said the Sindh government had also sought the services of Asghar and was denied. The court asked FIA Director General Malik Iqbal, who was appearing on notice, why the investigators were transferred despite the fact that they were investigating the Haj scam on court orders. The stated that judicial orders could not be overruled by administrative orders and told the FIA to bring back the investigators or their transfer orders would be cancelled.
The chief justice said the FIA’s actions were a direct inference in the matters of the judiciary. Iqbal said the prime minister would have to be approached in order to reverse the transfers of the two investigators. “We want implementation of our orders – you may talk to whomever you want to get that done,” the chief justice said. Appearing on notice, the attorney general said FIA’s acting chief Javed Bukhari had sought separation from the Haj scam himself, stating that the court had lost its trust in him.
FIA chief told the court that the transfers were made by the Establishment Division. The chief justice also told the FIA not to harass the journalists who performed Haj allegedly on the government’s expense. He said the journalists stayed in Saudi Arabia for 10 days, whereas they were being asked to pay charges for 40 days. He said it was not a correct allegation. Later the court adjourned the hearing till May 6.
