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ISLAMABAD: Newly-appointed Attorney General Irfan Qadir got off to a rather turbulent start in the Supreme Court on Friday as judges hearing the contempt case against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani asked him if he felt comfortable about prosecuting the chief executive of the country who had appointed him to the key position.
A seven-judge bench, headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk, made it clear that the present case was an adversarial proceeding and Mr Qadir would have to take a clear stand. “If you have any hesitation we can consider appointment of another prosecutor,” Justice Mulk said.
In contempt cases, the attorney general acts as prosecutor and assists the court in getting an accused convicted.
Mr Qadir, who has replaced Maulvi Anwarul Haq as attorney general, however, stuck to his ground and said he would simply follow the law that might also result in establishing innocence of the prime minister.
“Following laws will help us avoid conflict of interest,” he said and reminded the bench that he was a professional.
“I know my appointment as a prosecutor will be struck down like it was done as a high court judge (through landmark July 31, 2009, Supreme Court verdict), though I was not a PCO judge, as well as the appointment as prosecutor general of NAB (also by the Supreme Court in 2010),” Mr Qadir said.
After brief arguments between the bench and the new AG, Justice Mulk decided to retire for a while and when the court reassembled after 15 minutes, it dictated an order allowing and expecting Mr Qadir to conduct fair prosecution of the prime minister in the contempt case.
Mr Qadir will prepare his case to address the court preferably on Thursday after defence counsel Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan concludes his arguments on Wednesday. The proceedings will resume on Monday.
Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, a member of the bench, said Mr Qadir had appeared as a prosecutor before Swiss courts and here as prosecutor he should have no hesitation. Otherwise, he said, the new AG would be supporting the defence in getting the prime minister cleared of contempt charges.
“There is a feeling as if the court has become a party in the contempt case,” Mr Qadir shot back and again said that he would follow the Constitution and the law. He expressed apprehensions that the court might be taking away the prosecution’s discretion and clarified that he never acted as prosecutor in Swiss courts.
“These contempt proceedings were initiated by the court and we have understood whatever you have conveyed to us,” Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany said.
In the morning, Mr Qadir requested the court to give him time to go through the case because he had taken the charge on Friday.
But Justice Mulk observed that the court had nominated Maulvi Anwarul Haq as prosecutor by name.
The court then summoned Maulvi Anwarul Haq who requested the court to relieve him of the case and said he was moving an application for suspension of his licence to practise as a lawyer -- a requirement for the new assignment.
He said he had been appointed adviser to the president. Mr Qadir, he said, was a competent lawyer and would assist the court in a better way.
