THE Supreme Court has fined the attorney general of Pakistan Rs20,000 for failing to appear before it. In Attaul Haq Qasmi’s appointment case, the same court warned that if the appointment was illegal all the expenses incurred by the state-run media would be recovered from the ‘person responsible’.

If this observation sets a precedence it will definitely change the fate of this nation. Would, under the above principle, Rs20,000 fine be paid by the attorney general himself or by taxpayers?

When the black coats had not turned into a ‘black force’ whom even the police fear, I hired a lawyer for a case in Lahore.

He got from me his full fee in advance, including an additional fee for some ‘miscellaneous’ expenditures. The case went ex-parte because my lawyer remained continuously absent.

The judge in his decision neither made any remark against the lawyer’s professional misconduct nor recommended to the Bar that the fee be refunded to me.

Muhammad Javed

Bahrain

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2018