July 10, 2007	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 24, 1428

ISLAMABAD, July 9: The Supreme Court on Monday summoned Supreme Court Bar Association president Munir A. Malik for Tuesday to explain his reported statement that people would set the court on fire if its judgment in the chief justice case did not satisfy them.

Mr Malik had allegedly told a private TV channel: “If the judgement of the court does not satisfy the people, they will burn down the Supreme Court building.” The statement was published in some newspapers.

Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday, heading a 13-member larger bench hearing the petition of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry challenging the filing of the reference against him, directed the court registrar to convey to the SCBA president to explain his statement in the court.

Describing the statement as shocking, wild and irresponsible, the bench observed that if the ‘people’s court’ gave its verdict, they (lawyers) should rely on it, instead of the Supreme Court.

“None of us (judges) will like to be burnt,” Justice Ramday observed, and asked angrily why should they not write a judgment of their own liking, and the bench would endorse it.

“For the last three months we have been endeavouring for the independence of the judiciary, but what are we getting in return,” Justice Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi said, adding that if they were not willing to accept the verdict of the bench, there was no point in continuing the proceedings.

When the bench asked Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, the legal counsel for the chief justice, to read out the statement, he said Mr Malik was not representing the petitioner, rather he was an observer. He said Mr Malik might have been quoted out of context by the media.

“When we have not spared the law secretary, the press and the intelligence agencies then why should we take a lenient view towards them,” Justice Ramday observed.

He was referring to an earlier order by the bench banning the entrance of intelligence agencies’ personnel into the court and the issuance of a notice against the law secretary for submitting in the court ‘scandalous material’, which was part of the reference.

“We have no authority to restore the people’s CJ as the Chief Justice of Pakistan,” Justice Ramday observed. What the 13 judges were doing here if the people had no confidence in them, he asked.

Both Aitzaz Ahsan and Habib Wahabul Khairi, who strongly criticised the statement, disassociated themselves from it.

If Mr Malik denied the statement, the bench hinted, action would be taken against the newspapers which had published the news item.

“How can we decide and proceed if this is the attitude of the senior-most officer of the court,” the bench observed.

“Independence of judiciary means its independence from both the government as well as from people’s pressure.”

At the outset, Attorney General Makhdoom Ali Khan requested the bench to give two weeks to the Intelligence Bureau to complete the debugging of the Supreme Court premises and chambers of judges. He said the IB had started the debugging work but due to the delicacy of the matter two more weeks were required.

However, the court directed that the work, including debugging of the chief justice’s residence, be completed in a week and a report be presented on Monday next.

Malik Mohammad Qayyum, representing the federal government, argued that the full court could summon the material that formed part of the reference pending before the Supreme Judicial Council for examination.