ISLAMABAD, April 23: The government has committed Rs4 million as fee to the defence team it has engaged to defend the assumption of Office of President by Gen Pervez Musharraf and holding of referendum to cement it for five years.

The government has engaged Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, Maqbool Ellahi Malik and Syed Iftikhar Hussain Gillani.

Sharifuddin Pirzada, Senior Advisor to the Chief Executive, when asked on Tuesday about the fee he was paid by the government to appear in the case, said it had been decided that Rs1 million each will be paid to three lawyers.

He said two other lawyers are Hafeez Pirzada and Iftikhar Gillani. He, however, said no amount was, so far, committed to Maqbool Malik, who is Advocate-General of Punjab.

A concerned official, however, told Dawn that the government would have to pay same amount to Punjab advocate-general, who could not be asked to represent the federation free of cost. The attorney-general is not getting anything for his appearance in the Supreme Court.

An specified amount will be paid to five juniors of the two Pirzadas. When Hafeez Pirzada had refused to “assist” Sharifuddin Pirzada, it was decided that all the three lawyers would be entitled to have their independent teams.

Sharifuddin Pirzada has two assistants, Waqar Rana and Chaudhry Naseer. Hafeez Pirzada has three juniors, led by Hasan Aurengzeb. Iftikhar Gillani is probably the only lawyer without a junior.