ISLAMABAD, Nov 29: Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum on Thursday said that some of the cases initiated (suo motu) by deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry deserved to be pursued by the post-PCO Supreme Court.
But, he told reporters at his office, there were some cases “which we believe do not fall in the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court”. He did not mention the nature of those cases. He added that cases which fell in the court’s jurisdiction under fundamental rights should be heard because the judiciary could not be stopped from ensuring fundamental rights to people.
Scores of suo motu notices taken by the pre-PCO Supreme Court on important public issues had set off alarm bells in the corridors of power because in almost all the cases the executive was found at fault. President Pervez Musharraf had cited judicial activism as one of the reasons for proclaiming the state of emergency.
The attorney general reiterated that the state of emergency would be lifted before January 8 general elections, adding that after the restoration of the Constitution, superior court judges would have to take a fresh oath under the Constitution.
“The circumstances today would have been different had the deposed chief justice listened to me. Messages were sent to him twice after I became the AG but he ignored all requests,” Mr Qayyum said. “I could have been a bridge between the government and the judiciary.”
