ISLAMABAD, Sept 13: The government is ‘seriously thinking’ to request the Sindh High Court to transfer its suo motu proceeding into May 12 Karachi killings to the Supreme Court or any other high court.
“We have our reservations,” Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum told reporters in his office here on Thursday, citing the recent mobbing of the SHC and the fact that some complainant judges of the court are on the seven-member bench.
“We condemn what happened on Monday last as the courts command great respect and no one should be allowed to intervene in judicial affairs.” But at the same time, he said, the government also had reservations since the judges on whose complaint the proceedings had been initiated were also sitting on the same bench. “They are judges as well as prosecutors,” he observed.
On Monday, the SHC adjourned its proceedings for a week when a large crowd gathered at the court premises and entered the courtroom where the bench was to assemble for the proceedings.
In a day or two, the AG said, application would be moved from his office to the Chief Justice of the SHC with a request to shift the proceedings to some other high court or, most preferably, to the Supreme Court.
Raja Qureshi, the Sindh government’s counsel, has already sought transfer of the proceedings for reasons that some members of the bench were themselves complainants and some others were witnesses.
Expressing concern over the recent manhandling of Deputy Attorney General Rizwan Siddiqui and disrespectful treatment meted out to the government counsel in Karachi by some members of the bar, he said that “unfortunately our regulatory bodies are more interested in politics than in protecting the interest of the legal fraternity by looking after their welfare and safeguarding their professional rights”.
Every lawyer enjoys the legal right to choose his client and it is wrong to impose the lawyer of one’s own choice on someone else. If the government lawyers are insecure then who will be safe, he asked. He said that the bar should have taken action against the incident of some
lawyers obstructing Advocate Khawaja Naveed.
Mistreating fellow colleagues should be discouraged as it is bound to lead to a great loss. He also condemned the murder of Advocate Raja Riaz in Karachi.
The AG brushed aside speculations that the government was up in arms against the judiciary and said the government had the highest of regard and respect for judiciary headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. “No scheme is afoot to limit the tenure of any member of the judiciary,” he explained.
When his attention was drawn to an interview of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on a private television channel in which he had made some adverse remarks against the judiciary, the AG said he was not aware of the contents but whatever had been said was the opinion of an individual.
About relationship between the government and the judiciary, he said it was business as usual ‘without any confrontation’.
The AG said the Constitution allowed President Pervez Musharraf to run for the presidency for the second term in uniform.
On Jamaat-i-Islami’s petition against the dual office act, the AG expressed the confidence that the Supreme Court would take a decision in accordance with the Constitution and the law, in line with its earlier 2005 judgments.
About the forced exile of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif for the second time, he said the government acted on the consent of Mr Sharif and sending him to exile for the second time did not amount to contempt of court.
Mr Sharif was asked to choose between jail and exile and he chose the latter, he said, adding that the question of deportation did not arise. “Since the matter is subjudice, I will prefer not to comment further,” he said.
He also brushed aside possibility of emergency or martial law in the country.
