Pakistan in Media

ISLAMABAD: Sheikh Afzal, the main accused in the Rs9 billion financial scam at the Bank of Punjab (BoP), on Tuesday revealed before the bench of the Supreme Court that he paid Rs35 million to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Babar Awan for winning the case in the apex court.

Sheikh Afzal, an absconder in the BoP scam, was recently arrested by the FIA from Malaysia along with his son Haris Afzal and was produced before a three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

The bench was hearing the Rs9 billion BoP scam. The BoP had granted a loan of Rs9 billion to the Haris Steel Mills (HSM), Lahore without fulfilling legal requirements and consequently the steel mills defaulted on the loan. The Bank of Punjab then filed a petition against the HSM.

Sheikh Afzal admitted to having given Rs5 million as fees to a senior advocate of the Supreme Court and minister for parliamentary affairs Dr Babar Awan besides giving him Rs35 million for assuring him to win the case.

It is pertinent to mention here that earlier former attorney general Sardar Latif Khosa was removed from his office after being charged with taking money for a favourable court verdict during the tenure of Justice (retd) Abdul Hameed Dogar.

The arrest of Sheikh Afzal became possible after the Supreme Court issued orders to the government to produce the accused in the court come what may. This is the biggest achievement of the judges led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry since their restoration following a popular movement. It perhaps never happened in this country that the accused of such a huge fraud was made to submit to law and agreed to pay the embezzled amount. This task was beyond imagination during the tenure of Abdul Hameed Dogar as chief justice when such people got away scot-free.

After the court hearing, Sheikh Afzal disclosed a list of top lawyers to the newsmen who extorted millions of rupees from him to clear his loan default cases from the courts.

He alleged that Dr Babar Awan took Rs40 million, Sharifuddin Pirzada Rs10 million, Malik Muhammad Qayyum, the then attorney general, Rs20 million and Ali Waseem, the son of Waseem Sajjad, Rs7.5 million.

Afzal said Dr Babar Awan took Rs5 million as fee and Rs35 million for getting a favourable verdict from the then Islamabad High Court.

In addition to these leading lawyers, Afzal said he had given Rs400-500 million to Hamesh Khan, former BoP president, Rs30 million to Aziz Ahmed, BoP Control Risk Manager, Rs50 million to Haroon Aziz, Rs10 million to Shoaib Qureshi, Rs40 million to Saleem Mirza, treasury head of the bank, Rs5 million to Fazil Asghar who helped him escape despite being on the Exit Control List (ECL).

Earlier, Shiekh Afzal tendered an apology to the court and submitted to surrender in the case by satisfying the Bank of Punjab in its claim against him.

He regretted over his loot and plunder but requested that his family members including his spouse and children should not be humiliated who were not involved in the fraud case.

He said his wife and 18-year-old son Hamza were also arrested from the Lahore airport. He confessed to getting Rs8 billion loan from the Bank of Punjab, adding 40 per cent was taken by his elder brother, Seth Yaqoob.

The court was informed that Sheikh Afzal had deposited $6 million to his son’s account in Dubai, besides depositing Rs2.5 billion to his wife’s account.

Sheikh Afzal’s son Haris Afzal, a BBA student, also told the court that he was ready to furnish all accounts and properties purchased on his name by his father.

During the course of the proceedings, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry asked Dr Danishwar Malik, prosecutor general of the NAB, if there was any criminal case against Haris Afzal, son of Sheikh Afzal. Dr Danishwar replied in negative at which the court observed that it was an injustice with the family members.

The court ordered the release of Haris Afzal, however, directed to put his name on the ECL besides surrendering his passport to the NAB. The court directed Haris Afzal to extend his maximum cooperation to the NAB in the investigation process.

The court also allowed protection to Seth Nisar, elder brother of Shiekh Afzal, who wanted to return to Pakistan and pay the money.

His counsel, Advocate Wasim Sajjad, submitted before the court that Seth Nisar, who was abroad, wanted to return to Pakistan and ready to pay the amount being claimed against him.

He further submitted that earlier the court was misguided that Seith Nisar, brother of Sheikh Afzal, Chief Executive Haris Steel Mills, and Sheikh Munir had flown out of the country on October 24 despite being on ECL since 2000.

“His name was removed from the ECL on April 15, 2009 and he had taken Rs400 million as debt from Sheikh Afzal,” Wasim Sajjad added, requesting the court to ensure protection to Seth Nisar.

The court accepted the request and directed Wasim Sajjad to produce Seth Nisar before the court on December 2 and adjourned the hearing.

The court directed the NAB not to harass any family member of Sheikh Afzal, but allowed to take the due action for recovery of the defaulted money. The court also directed the NAB to expedite efforts for extradition of Hamesh Khan, who is an absconder in the case and in the US.

The court praised the role played by officials of FIA, particularly Azam Khan, the FIA DG, and the Foreign Affairs Ministry in the arrest of Sheikh Afzal from Malaysia.

Khawaja Haris, counsel for Bank of Punjab (BoP), and AK Dogar, counsel for Seth Yaqoob, also appeared before the court.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Interior Ministry to submit before the court details pertaining to Pakistani citizens who have been handed over to foreign countries.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Javed Iqbal, hearing the case of missing persons, observed that it will not give more time to the government for tracing the whereabouts of the missing people.

The News International, Pakistan, Monday, July 20, 2009
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Registrar, Dr Faqir Hussain, has refused to disclose the names of judges of the superior courts and number of references pending disposal in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).

“With reference to your application dated 8.7.2009, I may inform you that due to the confidential nature of proceedings under Article 209 of the Constitution, your request for information of the cases has been declined,” the registrar said in a letter to this correspondent in response to a written request.
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The News International, Pakistan, Sunday, June 28, 2009
The tide seems to be running in favour of the PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif being able to contest elections. A bench of the LHC has now acquitted him in a case involving the purchase of a helicopter. Nawaz Sharif had been convicted in 2000, sentenced to a jail term and a hefty fee, for the acquisition of the aircraft, on the grounds that the funds used for this were not covered in his declared assets.

The ruling of course means that Sharif can contest polls. Both the president and the prime minister have been quick to congratulate him on this. The more harmonious political environment put in place after the long march that ended with the restoration of the chief justice of Pakistan persists. This is welcome. The fact that the head of a major party can take part in the electoral process is also important. It acts to strengthen our struggling democracy and offer up greater choice of leadership to people. There is another aspect to all this. The LHC has noted many loopholes and flaws in the 2000 decision by a trial court. It is not hard to see that this may have been politically motivated. We are all of course familiar with the mechanics of this. Similar accusations have surfaced in the past and indeed are also coming forward in the case involving the alleged hijacking of an aircraft by Nawaz Sharif in 1999.
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The News International, Pakistan, Saturday, June 27, 2009
RAWALPINDI: In a short order, the LHC bench announced: “To secure the ends of justice, we condone the delay in filing the appeal. The judgment of the trial court dated July 22, 2000, whereby Mian Nawaz Sharif had been convicted and sentenced is set aside on account of:

i) Lack of evidence connecting the appellant with the commission of offence charged.

ii) Gross illegalities and irregularities committed by the trial court in proceedings.

iii) Glaring lapses on the part of prosecution.

The appellant stands acquitted of all the charges.”
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The News International, Pakistan, Friday, June 26, 2009
However, the governorís recent recommendation of seven lawyers as desired future judges of the Lahore High Court, reportedly without the prior input or approval of the Lahore High Court chief justice, has caused consternation in judicial circles. Sources said the LHC chief justice did not appreciate the governor’s move which was being viewed as a breach of the Constitution.

Under the Constitution and as per the Supreme Court’s judgment in Al-Jihad case, it is the chief justice of a provincial high court who is authorised to recommend names amongst lawyers and sessions judges for their appointment as judges of the respective high court.
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Dawn, Pakistan, Wednesday, 24 Jun, 2009
THE much-needed National Judicial Policy came into force on June 1. Its avowed goals are to initially reduce and ultimately eliminate backlogs in both the superior and subordinate courts, and to fix a time frame for the disposal of civil and criminal cases. Criminal cases are to be given priority. Over 1.7 million civil and criminal cases are pending trial in the country’s superior and subordinate courts. Most criminal prosecutions are pursued in the lower courts where only 1,750 understaffed and overworked judges grapple with a staggering 1.5 million criminal and civil cases. Some cases have been dragging on for over a decade. Many disenchanted complainants are left with no vigour or discernible interest in the outcome of such dawdling trials.
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The News International, Pakistan, Wednesday, June 24, 2009
The column pointed out that farmhouses were allotted to provide vegetables and fruits to the citizens of Islamabad but many marvellous bungalows had been constructed on the land in violation of CDA laws.

Electricity connection for agricultural purpose at plot No C-l(B), Park Road, Chak Shahzad owned by former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf was installed in Dec 2003 after the payment of full cost of material, including cost of 25 kVA transformer and other accessories amounting to Rs75,579 for an applied load of 20 HP motor.
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The News International, Pakistan, Friday, June 19, 2009
The five-member bench, headed by Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani and comprising Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Mohammad Moosa K Leghari, Justice Sheikh Hakim Ali and Justice Ghulam Rabbani, was hearing a constitutional petition challenging the educational degrees of MMA legislators.

Appearing on a notice, Qari Abdur Rashid advocate and counsel for the respondents submitted that as his clients had completed their tenure; therefore, there was no need to hear the case on merit.
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By Ijaz Ahmad
Dawn, Pakistan, Tuesday, 16 Jun, 2009
ALTHOUGH the National Judicial Policy (NJP) aims to clear the backlog of cases in the judiciary, ensure the latter’s independence and eradicate corruption, doubts have been cast on its effectiveness.

Would providing a timeline for the disposal of cases, setting up complaint cells and repatriating lower judicial officers from executive posts be sufficient to meet the goals?
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Daily Times, Pakistan
Thursday, June 11, 2009

* Company says it cannot pay back benefits due to current recession

By Masood Rehman

ISLAMABAD: A three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday ordered the reinstatement of 478 employees of the Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) from the date of their termination, but without any back-benefits.

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Daily Times, Pakistan
Thursday, June 11, 2009

LAHORE: A division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) consisting of Justice Anwarul Haq and Justice Abdul Sattar Goraya on Monday disqualified Rauf Khalid, an independently-elected MPA from Punjab Assembly constituency PP-284 (Bahawalnagar).

The bench directed the Election Commission of Pakistan to reprocess elections in the constituency in accordance with the law. The bench held the MPA disqualified after accepting petitions of Muhammad Ijazul Haq, the former minister for religions affairs and Nasarullah Khan, a voter from the same constituency. Ijaz, a PML-N candidate, had lost the election against Khalid, who had received 26,888 votes while Ijaz had been the runner-up, with 24,232 votes.

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Dawn, Pakistan
Monday, 08 Jun, 2009

This underscores a bigger malady: the difficulty of enforcing rules for legislators. Nobody knows how many parliamentarians at the federal and provincial levels are facing criminal charges of various intensities and different types. Their number is expected to be quite high. In the last two weeks alone, two ruling party legislators in Punjab were alleged to have committed such heinous crimes as harassing women and committing rape at gunpoint. A sense of immunity from prosecution and punishment is at work in these cases. Allowing Mr Ghafoor to walk away with this clear violation of the rules, even if he did not know them, will certainly allow other legislators to believe they can get away with anything.

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The News International, Pakistan
Sunday, June 07, 2009

Life in our country moves along two roads – one leading towards progress and development, the other back into medieval times. We now hear that Mir Aali Bugti, the newly-elected chief of the Bugti tribe, plans to keep alive a ‘tradition’ in which people accused of crime must walk across burning coals to prove their innocence. Forty people are to be made the latest victims of this archaic practice. It is shocking that a young, educated leader should opt for such madness rather than challenging it.

The hold of tradition one lives is in many cases a damaging one. It is this realization that led to traditions such as the binding of the feet of women in China being barred. This is what progress and enlightenment is all about. Yet we see ‘honour’ killings and equally barbaric practices continue in the name of tradition. These must be ended. The government needs to play a part in doing so. The same rights, the same access to justice, the same norms of conduct must be available to all citizens in the country. It is frequently the poorest, the most vulnerable individuals who are made victims of practices such as the coal-walking trial planned in Dera Bugti. If these practices are not challenged, development and a move beyond our past will continue to elude us. Instead we will see only more acts of cruelty such as the burial alive of women that we saw last year. Leaders, such as the youthful head of the Bugti tribe, must also play a part. They themselves have enjoyed the benefits of education and exposure to modern thinking of all kinds. They must also, in their role as tribal chiefs, bring the same advantages to their people so that they can truly move into the 21st century and leave their past behind.

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Saturday, June 06, 2009
misdemeanour

The inquiry commission set up to look into the incident involving a Punjab government minister who refused to allow the baggage of a friend who had arrived at Lahore airport from Bangkok to be scanned is instructive. Rather than looking into facts, a main focus for the inquiry commission, comprising two former MNAs and two bureaucrats, seems to have been to clear the minister at all costs. The media reports concerning the airport incident, which involved an exchange of harsh words between Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor, the concerned minister, and customs staff, had insinuated he whisked away his friend's luggage to cover up a smuggling attempt. These reports could indeed be inaccurate. The media, we must admit, is not always right and not always entirely balanced. But the conclusion reached in the report is ludicrous. It maintains the minister had no notion that taking the 'Green Channel' option at airports did not mean custom's had no right to search baggage. Had this indeed been the case, smuggling of banned items – including narcotics – would be child's play for criminal elements around the world. It seems hard to believe this did not strike a man who deals regularly with law-breakers in his role as prison's minister.

Given that a public scene of considerable ugliness took place at the airport, the finding by the inquiry commission that the media 'blew the incident out of proportion' also seems entirely unfair. It is of course the primary task of the media to act as a watchdog and keep the public informed. It may sometimes make mistakes, but the commission's report does nothing to persuade us that this is indeed what happened in the case of the unpleasant matter at hand. There is no explanation as to why the minister lost his cool. The setting up of the inquiry commission marks some progress. At least such happenings are no longer brushed under the carpet or robustly denied. For this, the media deserves credit. The fact that the skirmish at the airport was broadcast by TV channels forced the government to react. But there is still a long way to go. If they are to acquire credibility, such inquiries must genuinely aim at seeking out the facts. Conducting them merely as an eye-wash does more harm than good. The reputation of the minister will not be salvaged by a report no one believes. This is something we need to realize so that we can move towards a system based on real accountability and the good governance that comes with it.

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Dawn, Pakistan
Thursday, 04 Jun, 2009

THE release of Hafiz Saeed raises many questions about the sincerity and efficacy of the state in quashing jihadi networks that operate on its soil. It may have been a full bench of the Lahore High Court that ordered Saeed’s release, but the fact is the court was left with little option given the prosecution’s reliance on weak grounds for the extension of the preventive detention of Saeed while he possibly awaits trial on charges related to the Mumbai attacks last November. At the heart of the issue here is really the question of whether Pakistan’s legal framework is adequate for dealing with men such as Saeed who are the ideological leaders and figureheads of groups which may be engaged in terrorist activities either abroad or on Pakistani soil. Do we have the laws that can put such people out of business while acknowledging the difficulty of tracing any particular crime to a group’s top leadership? It appears not. Clearly, this is a matter for parliament to debate and to draw up a set of a laws as Pakistan presses ahead in its counter-insurgency activities in the northwest and Fata. The issue is bigger than just Hafiz Saeed and the Mumbai attacks — it extends to militant leaders like Maulana Fazlullah and Baitullah Mehsud, too. Imagine a scenario in which Fazlullah or Mehsud are captured by the state and are held for trial: is it beyond the realm of possibility that they too may be set free on technicalities because the laws of the land are inadequate to deal with such leaders?

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The News International, Pakistan
Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Hearing a case in which a man accused of murder had been sentenced to a jail term that would run to 60 years, the Supreme Court has ruled that the maximum sentence of 25 years must not be violated. In this context it has ruled that sentences must be counted from the day of arrest, not the day of conviction. The upholding of Article 382B of the Criminal Procedure Code by the court has immense relevance. Over 10,000 prisoners across the country are expected to benefit. Instructions have already been given to officials to ensure that this happens. The reality is that due to long delays in court hearings, a large number of convicts have already served many years – sometimes even a decade – in jail before a verdict is delivered in their case. The SC ruling will play a big part in changing this. As a measure that goes to better the condition of prisoners it is welcome. The injustices inherent in the existing system do nothing to tackle crime but only inflict immense suffering on tens of thousands. Even those guilty of crime deserve humane treatment. The justice system must aim at reform and not just retribution.

There are, though, other aspects stemming from the same issue which need to be taken note of. One is the fact that the huge number of 'under-trial' prisoners includes many who will eventually be found 'not guilty'. Yet, like those eventually convicted, many among these end up spending years behind bars. Apart from those who are not guilty of any offence, are the petty thieves, the pick-pockets and others guilty of minor misdemeanours. Their detention, in most cases alongside hardened veterans of crime, goes beyond the issue of injustice. It is dangerous because it puts these people at risk of being drawn into the dark underworld of crime, especially the young and most vulnerable who have the least ability to resist. Drug addiction, sodomy and other vices are additional hazards of prison life. The apex court has demonstrated it is alive to the issues facing the legal system and to the rights of prisoners. Its' most recent measure deserves applause. By acting to offer relief to under-trail prisoners it would do still more in the cause of justice, also reducing the prison population which has grown to place immense strains on facilities intended to house a far smaller number.

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Dawn, Pakistan
Tuesday, 02 Jun, 2009

HAVING gone into effect from Monday, the new judicial policy could radically alter the legal landscape and remove a major source of grievance for the people if it is implemented with sincerity. Rightly, the focus of the far-reaching decisions taken by the National Judicial (policymaking) Committee on Saturday seems to be on the speedy disposal of cases. The backlog of cases is a commentary on the working of our judicial system: 1.6 million cases pending, 140,000 of them with the superior judiciary alone. This shows how the judicial system has failed to deliver and how its working has to be overhauled if it is to provide justice without delay. Cases, both criminal and civil, drag on for years and sometimes take decades to be resolved. Persons seeking justice either get tired and give up or ‘phase out’. There are many reasons for this painful wait for justice. The number of judges is far below the minimum required to cope with the staggering number of pending cases to which new ones are added daily. While every society has its share of civil and criminal cases, a society like Pakistan’s needs constant revisions in its legal system to cope with the phenomenal rise in crime and litigation. The rise in acts of terror alone has saddled the judiciary with thousands of cases across the country. Even though separate courts — ATCs — deal with them, a large majority fall victim to judicial sloth and remain undecided, sometimes for years. With such a slow process of justice, it is no wonder that many people prefer to turn to jirgas and their ilk hoping for a quicker solution to their various disputes.

Now the Supreme Court and all the high courts will decide pending cases within a year, the period for Balochistan being reduced to six months. This is understandable because cases related to the insurgency there have piled up and need to be decided with speed. Similarly, periods of six months and one year have been fixed for criminal cases according to the punishment they entail. Also, prison officials and SHOs are not found to be very prompt in bringing the accused to court. The committee’s decisions are wide-ranging and include among others the computerisation of court records. It remains to be seen whether the courts implement the decisions in a manner that challenges old attitudes and makes our judiciary more responsive to the needs of the people.

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