ISLAMABAD, Aug 7: Controversy seems to follow Malik Muhammad Qayyum wherever he goes and his surprise appointment as Attorney General for Pakistan soon after he lost government’s case against Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in the Supreme Court is no exception.

A day after some officer-bearers of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) had hailed the appointment, SCBA Secretary Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari on Tuesday alleged that he had been appointed to hatch conspiracies to break the remarkable unity shown by the legal fraternity in support of the Chief Justice.

The CJ was rescued by his own peers when a 13-member Supreme Court bench in a landmark judgment threw away the reference and reinstated the CJ to his rightful place on July 20.

Only the other day (Monday) SCBA’s Senior Vice President Khawaja Naveed and Additional Secretary Sardar Muhammad Ghazi along with some senior office-bearers of the association had addressed a press conference to extend full support to Malik Qayyum over his appointment as AGP.

Interestingly the press conference followed after the AGP hinted to hand over Rs110 million fund to the SCBA with a condition to spend the same for the welfare of the lawyers. The money was provided by the federal government to the SCBA during Malik Qayyum’s tenure as the association’s president after a meeting with President Musharraf.

Till the agreement to hand over the money to the association, the funds invested in the name of a trust remained at the centre of controversy and also used as a slogan during the last SCBA elections when Malik Qayyum was accused of retaining his control over the funds.

In a written statement, Khawaja Naveed and Sardar Ghazi had also disapproved the opinion expressed by their secretary Zufiqar Bokhari and Vice-President from the Punjab Sahibzada Anwer Hamid in which both had deplored the appointment of Malik Qayyum as AGP.

Expressing confidence over Malik Qayyum, Khawaja Naveed had even claimed that his group had the support of nine members out of a total of 21-member Executive Committee of the SCBA and had warned to oppose those who use the platform of the association to vent their anger against Malik Qayyum.

“It is a vilification campaign unleashed against Malik Qayyum who is a competent man and validly appointed to the top position,” Khawaja Naveed and Sardar Ghazi had stated adding the statements of Bokhari and Sahibzada Hamid aimed at achieving political mileage and settling personal scores.

However Secretary Bokhari alleged that Malik Qayyum had already sold out the Bar and was now trying his level best to further create fissures among the legal community.

Instead of promoting the cause of lawyers, he alleged, the appointment of Malik Qayyum was essentially meant to watch the interest of the government, he said.

He also recalled how he was in the forefront in objecting the meeting of Malik Qayyum as the then SCBA chief with President Musharraf to secure Rs100 million in the name of welfare for the lawyers.

On earlier announcement to challenge the appointment of the AGP, Mr Bukhari said no final decision had yet been taken by the SCBA to assail the appointment in the apex court.

On re-election of President Musharraf, he warned that if the president tried to re-elect from the present assemblies in uniform, they would challenge the move in the Supreme Court.

“President Musharraf is a government servant and not eligible to contest elections before fulfilling legal requirement of two years even if he shed his uniform today,” he said.