The federal government will be facing contempt of court charges if it fails to implement the Supreme Court’s orders regarding the reinstatement of FIA Additional Director General Zafar Qureshi, legal experts said on Friday. Senior lawyer Fakharuddin G Ebrahim said every body including the government was obliged to accept court orders.
“The government should understand this… the SC can issue contempt of court notice to the chief executive, which is no joke,” he said. Ibrahim said per the constitution, “the Supreme Court was supreme… sometimes we lose even good cases, but it does not mean that we do not accept the court’s verdict”. “When the government itself is not implementing the court orders, it will create chaos that is not in the interest of the country,” he said. Ebrahim said the army should not intervene in political affairs, however, he warned that the situation would lead to chaos if the government continued with its attitude. Ikram Chaudhary, another senior lawyer, told Pakistan Today that the government’s attitude vis-à-vis the reinstatement of Zafar Qureshi could lead to a problematic situation.
“The government is giving misleading statements in court on the issue, which is also punishable under the Pakistan Penal Code,” he said. Chaudhary said the government had been challenging the authority of the court, which is punishable under Article 204.
He said the court was exercising restraint on the issue, however, the court would be left with no option but to issue contempt notice to the chief executive of the country if it continued with the same. “The culprits should also be punished to prove equality of citizens before law,” he recommended. Chaudhry feared that the government’s attitude would lead to unrest and ultimately derail the democratic system.
