LAHORE: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Accountability Irfan Qadir on Saturday appealed to the judges of the Supreme Court not to get involved in the political affairs of the country and only take steps to ensure justice to the people.
Addressing a press conference at the Governor House here, Qadir said: “A former chief justice created benches of his choice and resorted to political engineering.”
SAPM said: “We have seen for some time that the Supreme Court has become quite active in [ensuring] the supremacy of the law and the Constitution.”
He said that the government and parliament stand with the judiciary and there is no ambiguity in the constitution regarding accountability. He further said that no one is above the constitution and law, everyone will be held accountable. Unless all the institutions are brought to the net of accountability with uniformity, the rule of law cannot be established in the country, if any institution does not cooperate, it will be shared with the nation.
He said that the purpose of his effort is to ensure that the rule of law remains stable in the country till the end of the tenure of the current government.
Irfan Qadir said that no immunity should be accepted in the allegations of corruption against the judges and swift action should be taken against them. Whether the allegations against the judge were true or false, their decision should be made soon. The Supreme Judicial Council should dispose of this matter as soon as possible.
He said that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is holding politicians and bureaucrats accountable. However, some judges swayed the bureau in their favor. He said that the process of self-accountability is going on in the judiciary. “Politicians are not held accountable by politicians, but by other independent bodies.” He asserted that the Judiciary is adopting the process of self-accountability and if we follow it, politicians and bureaucrats should also be given an opportunity for self-accountability.
SAPM said that whoever is involved in corruption should be held accountable. If the judiciary is initiating the process of accountability, it should be in accordance with the rule of law.
There is no ambiguity in the law as far as one’s accountability is concerned. He said that the case of alleged corruption of a High Court judge had come to light and alleged audio leaks had also come to light in this regard. A judge has a long list of visits to his family and more than Rs 60 million have been spent on the visits, Irfan Qadir said, adding that those involved in corruption should be held accountable.
Irfan Qadir said that the government has set up a commission to investigate the authenticity of the audio leaks, including a senior judge. Still, the High Court suspended the proceedings of the commission.
In response to a question, he said that people involved in serious crimes were given the right to appeal, but former prime ministers were sent to Peking without being given the right to appeal.
SAPM said that at that time there was an intra-court appeal in the High Court by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and no one said that it was against the Constitution. The law should apply to all.
In response to a question, Qadir said that there can be no disqualification for life in the case against Nawaz Sharif. The Senate has passed a law and under that law there can be only five years of disqualification. When the case reopens, it will be known whether things went wrong or not, he added, adding that Nawaz Sharif was disqualified for not taking salary from his son.
In response to another question, he said that the coalition government does not have two-thirds majority and the new parliament will legislate on important issues.
In response to another question, Irfan Qadir said that new laws have been made to strengthen judicial institutions.
Regarding trial in military courts, Irfan Qadir said that if someone wants to challenge the military courts, there is no obstacle for him. However, those who attack or vandalize military installations, whether they are soldiers or civilians, will be tried in military courts.
