November 26, 2006	Sunday	Ziqa'ad 4, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 25: Raja Haq Nawaz, who had to yield the office of president Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) after a Supreme Court ruling, has demanded that the executive committee of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) should not hear and decide the appeal against him as its members had been actively campaigning for his opponent during the election.

The seven-member executive committee of the PBC is scheduled to meet on Sunday to settle the dispute between Muneer A Malik and Raja Haq Nawaz, both claiming to be ‘legally’ elected president of the association. The meeting has been convened on the direction of an 11-member Supreme Court bench hearing an appeal of Muneer A Malik in the matter.

On Saturday Raja Haq Nawaz asked Attorney General Makhdoom Ali Khan, ex-officio chairman of the PBC, through a petition to hear the appeal without inviting members of the executive committee.

Raja Haq Nawaz’s expression of no-confidence in the PBC executive committee is second example of its kind. Earlier former president SCBA Malik Muhammad Qayyum, who had conducted the October 31 elections of the association as a returning officer (RO), had also refused to attend the meeting, accusing the executive committee of bias and partiality.

Raja Haq Nawaz alleged that committee members Qalb-i-Hassan, Rasheed A Razvi, Farooq Hameed Naek, Hamid Ali Khan, Muhammad Kazim Khan and Qazi Muhammad Anwar had openly campaigned for his rival Muneer A Malik during the elections.

"It is a settled law that no body can be a judge in his own cause,” he said adding that it was pity that advocates who claimed to be champions of rule of law would hear the appeal of a man belonging to their own group. “There is a pre-planned and calculated move on part of vested interests to divide and weaken the bar, especially at a time when general elections are likely to be held next year,” he added.

On November 6, RO Malik Qayyum issued notification of success of Raja Haq Nawaz and his rival Muneer Malik approached the executive committee against the decision of the RO and got a decision in his favour.

However, on November 8, the Rawalpindi bench of the Lahore High Court suspended PBC order and referred the matter to the chief justice for formation of larger bench to hear the matter. He had also asked Raja Haq Nawaz to assume the office of the president SCBA till further orders.

But on an appeal by Munir Malik, the Supreme Court set aside the orders of both the PBC and the LHC and directed the executive committee to settle the dispute within a fortnight.