December 20, 2007	Thursday	Zilhaj 9, 1428

LAHORE, Dec 19: The appointment of Malik Muhammad Qayyum as attorney general of Pakistan was challenged in a writ petition filed with the Lahore High Court here on Wednesday.

Petitioner-lawyer Jawaid Iqbal Jafree contended that Qayyum did not qualify for the job primarily because of his involvement in the infamous tape scandal.

Jafree referred to a telephonic conversation between Qayyum, the then judge of the LHC, and an official of the Nawaz government, which was made public.

According to the contents of the conversation, Qayyum had agreed to convict Benazir Bhutto after promising to expedite her trial on corruption charges. Later, the Supreme Court had reversed Benazir’s conviction and remanded the case to an accountability court with the observation that “malice was floating on the surface of the record of the case”.

Jafree said Qayyum should not have resigned as judge of the high court in line with his claim that the tapes did not contain his voice. The lawyer asked the court to order polygraph tests of the tape-recording in a laboratory to ascertain Qayyum’s claim.

Jafree asked the court to order the State to explain why Qayyum was appointed when there were lawyers more qualified than him.

The lawyer claimed that merit was being ignored in the appointment of law officers across the country, who were given exorbitant salaries.

“The salaries of law officers including prosecutors be reduced equitably and should not be more than the salaries for similar posts in India which is four times larger and 10 times richer than Pakistan,” the lawyer said.

He asked the court to declare Qayyum’s appointment as Attorney General unlawful and fill the post after adverstising it.

The lawyer also asked the court to order doubling of the consolidated salaries of the superior courts judges.

“But in future they should not be given expensive plots on reduced rates, except in emergencies and after making it public. Some judges have obtained several plots in spite of possessing palatial houses,” Jafree said.

Last week, a division bench of the Lahore High Court had issued a notice to Malik Qayyum in personal capacity for explanation regarding his role in what a petitioner stated fraudulent execution of sale deed of an expensive plot in Gulberg-III.