10 pending cases to pit govt against judiciary

As the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday hinted at the formation of a larger bench to hear the Benazir Bhutto murder case after a second FIR was registered into her assassination, the executive-judiciary tussle is likely to enter a critical stage as the apex court is all set to hear 10 important cases – all involving, directly or indirectly, top ranking officials of the executive or the military.
A well-placed source told Pakistan Today that the government was watching keenly the cases being taken up by the apex court and it was measuring its various options to deal with the emerging situation accordingly. The source added that the government was being advised to take the judiciary head-on, but the Presidency was keeping its cards close to the chest.
The 10 important cases being heard in Supreme Court include the Asghar Khan case on the Mehran Bank scam, Adiyala Jail missing persons’ case, Balochistan law and order case, National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) implementation case and summoning of PM for not writing a letter to Swiss authorities, contempt of court act case, Malik Riaz contempt of court case, Benazir Bhutto murder case, dual nationality case, memo case and Dr Arslan Iftikhar corruption case. On Tuesday, a three-judge SC bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry started hearing the BB murder case. The bench decided that a five-member larger bench would take up the plea seeking a second FIR regarding Benazir’s assassination.
The court had earlier passed an order on this plea.\ Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed that a five-member bench would be constituted to hear the plea of Chaudhry Muhammad Aslam, who had sought the registration of a second FIR.\ During the course of hearing, Rasheed A Rizvi, counsel for the petitioner apprised the bench that an inquiry report of BB’s murder case had not been made public so far. Deputy Attorney General Shafi Chandio informed the bench that the report had been made public and notification would be submitted before the court soon.
He added that Chaudhry Aslam was not an aggrieved party in the case, therefore, could not seek registration of a second FIR. However, the chief justice overruled the objection and remarked that it was not necessary that all complainants be aggrieved parties. “Even a passerby can lodge the complaint,” he said and quoted an earlier judgment passed by the court in this regard. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) also submitted a final challan in the BB murder case and it nominated former president Pervez Musharraf as the main offender.