Despite the expiry of the deadline given by the Supreme Court to reinstate the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) team probing the Haj corruption scandal, the government has decided not to follow the court’s orders. An official source told Pakistan Today late on Monday night that no decision had been taken by the government to reinstate the investigation team, which meant the government was in no mood to follow court orders.
Earlier in the day, a six-member larger bench of the Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, Justice Tariq Parvez, Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Ghulam Rabbani, hearing a suo motu case pertaining to corruption in the arrangements for Haj 2010, had told the establishment secretary to immediately issue transfer orders of Hussain Asghar as FIA director, enabling him to resume his duties and continue to investigate the Haj scam, otherwise the secretary would have to appear in court and face proceedings for non-compliance.
The court had also told him to put up the list of the officers available at that time when Asghar was appointed the Gilgit-Baltistan inspector general. The court had ordered that the notification of Asghar’s reinstatement be issued during the course of the day (Monday).