FIA DG refuses to obey SC

In an unusual move, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Director General Tehsin Anwar Ali told the Supreme Court on Wednesday he will not assist his subordinate Additional Director General Zafar Qureshi as his team member in the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scam investigation.
The Supreme Court had ordered the FIA DG on Tuesday to assist Qureshi by joining his investigation team as an associate and to extend him full cooperation in the investigation of the NICL scam. Appearing on notice on Wednesday, the FIA chief presented his resignation before a three-member Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Ghulam Rabbani, which was hearing Qureshi’s reinstatement case.
While resigning, he told the court that he and Qureshi belonged to a common group of service but as he was the FIA DG, and according to established convention, he was in charge of the affairs of the agency, which was performing its functions under the FIA Act of 1974. He said under the established traditions and being head of the agency, he was unable to perform as a member of an investigation team led by his subordinate.
RESIGNATION: The chief justice told him that if he was not willing to perform his duties as the FIA director general, he should approach the authority concerned to present his resignation. He said since the August 16 order of the court was a judicial order, it could not be changed and had to be complied with in letter and spirit. The court, however, advised the FIA chief to continue investigation of the case.
The court stated that since Interior Secretary Khawaja Siddique Akbar, FIA DG Tehsin Anwar, FIA Lahore Director Waqar Haider and Assistant Director Khawaja Hammad had violated court orders, contempt of court proceedings would be initiated against them in due course, as investigation had begun. The court ordered all concerned to cooperate with Qureshi so that he could complete the task assigned to him. Hammad told the court that on August 12, when he came to know that Qureshi was about to recommence the investigation of the NICL case the next day, Waqar Haider had told him that he was under immense pressure to not allow Qureshi to enter the FIA office on August 13 and August 15 at any cost, and asked Hammad to adopt a suitable measure to prevent Qureshi from coming to work.
He said he had close relations with Qureshi, thus he told him on the night between August 12 and August 13 about a bomb threat to the office, so Qureshi was prevented from entering the office on August 13. After hearing Hammad’s reply, the court told him to submit a detailed statement and provide a copy to Haider.
Haider, however, denied the allegation stating that he was in Islamabad on August 13. The court ordered him to file a written reply besides directing him to strictly comply with the court’s August 8 order and extend all possible assistance to Qureshi and his team and cooperate with him in any manner he required without causing any hindrance.
INVESTIGATION TEAM: Appearing on notice, Qureshi’s investigation team, comprising Javed Hussain Shah, Zulfiqar Ali Muhammad Ahmed, Khalid Anees and Muhammad Sarwar, told the court that they were not forced by anyone to go on leave. They said they had gone on leave on their own.
Assistant Director (AD) Muhammad Ahmad told the court that he had collected files of the investigation from AD Sikandar of the FIA Police Station, to whom Deputy Director Shehzad Basharat – according to Waqar Haider – had handed over the files before leaving to perform Umra.
Ahmad handed over the case files to Qureshi in the court, enabling him to continue with the investigation of the case. All the members of the team told the court that they were willing and ready to investigate the case with Qureshi as they had been doing in the past.
The court asked them to tell the SC registrar if at any time they considered that they were being pressurised by any quarters to not investigate the case independently, so that the matter could be placed before the court.
Appearing on notice, Attorney General Moulvi Anwarul Haq told the court that in view of Qureshi’s statement about receiving a hoax call about a bomb threat to the FIA building on August 12 and August 13, a letter was sent to the Lahore police chief for a case to be registered, and accordingly a case (FIR No 760/2011) under Section 25/D/29 of the Telegraph Act, and Sections 182/186 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) had been registered at the Civil Lines Police Station.
He also placed on record a copy of the FIR. The court ordered the Punjab PPO to ensure independent investigation of the case and also to determine whether provisions such as Section 505 of the PPC applied to cases where baseless rumours were spread in order to harass the general public. The court also asked him to appoint a competent officer to investigate the case and to inform the registrar of the result.
NEUTRALITY: Dr Babar Awan, counsel for Moonis Elahi, told the court that Qureshi had made a statement in court that the Chaudhrys of Gujrat had threatened to kill him. Questioning the neutrality of Qureshi, Awan said that having a personal grudge against Elahi, Qureshi could not remain neutral in the NICL case. He said he had faith in all the team members except Qureshi. He requested the court to hear his application, in which the question of bias had been raised against Qureshi. However, the court said that his application would be taken later and adjourned further hearing of the case for an indefinite period.