Govt takes SC head on over Qureshi

Despite repeated orders of the Supreme Court (SC) for the reinstatement of FIA Additional Director General Zafar Qureshi, the government is not taking any clear stance over the matter, as the attorney general again informed the apex court on Friday that the government had not yet issued orders for the official’s reinstatement.
Appearing in pursuance of the court’s July 14 orders, AG Anwarul Haq informed the three-member Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Amir Hani Muslim that the government had not yet issued orders for the reinstatement of Zafar Qureshi, who was the lead investigator in the NICL scam probe.
The chief justice said if the government was not serious in implementing the court’s orders for the reinstatement of the suspended officer, the court would form a commission to probe into the matter.
“You can imagine that when the inquiry will start, the newspapers clippings, timings, pictures and statements of various persons will come on record,” the chief justice told the AG, adding that so much material would be collected that it would have its own consequences. The chief justice said the court could ask a judge of the high court to probe the matter, however, it would give another opportunity to the government to reinstate Qureshi.
The court summoned the establishment and interior secretaries directing them to submit within an hour the record pertaining to Qureshi’s suspension.
After an hour, the secretaries appeared in court and submitted the record pertaining to the approval by the prime minister for Qureshi’s suspension. Establishment Secretary Sohail Ahmed told the court that the interior secretary had forwarded the summary to the prime minister.
The chief justice noted that the interior secretary had no legal right to forward the summary. “You must read Article 4 daily before going to office,” the chief justice told the establishment secretary, adding that it even did not allow the SC do so.
Meanwhile, Zafar Qureshi informed the court that his phone calls were being tapped and his children were being harassed in Lahore. The chief justice then ordered full protection for Qureshi. “It would be written in the history that a man who stood against corruption was penalised,” the chief justice observed.
The chief justice noted that it was a corruption case, not a person-specific issue, as four FIRs had been registered in the case to bring back the nation’s wealth. Justice Khilji Arif Hussain observed that by suspending Qureshi, hindrance was created in the affairs of the court. He observed that in 95 percent of cases, hindrances were created first in implementation of court’s orders, but the orders were implemented later, adding that the same thing happened in the formation of the Abbottabad and Saleem
Shahzad commissions.
Justice Khilji Arif Hussain observed that everybody in India was united to eradicate corruption, but the government officials in Pakistan were busy in protecting corrupt people. “We will not allow anyone to frustrate the court’s orders,” he said. Earlier, the AG informed the court that one of the members of the NICL probe team posted in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
had rejoined the team.