* Abidi says SC verdict on new contempt law has laid foundation of confrontation between state institutions
* CJP should resign for ‘crime’ of his son
Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Senator Faisal Raza Abidi on Sunday asked the CJP to quit for taking oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) and for alleged involvement of his son in a financial impropriety case.
Addressing a press conference at the PPP Secretariat on Sunday, Abidi alleged that the son of the CJP, Dr Arsalan Iftikhar, had misused the Chief Justice House, Islamabad. He questioned if former CJP Dogar was held responsible for the crime of his daughter, referring to the undue increase in marks of Farah Dogar in FBISE exams, why could not the present CJP be held responsible for the crimes of his son. Abidi said the annulment of the contempt of court law had laid a basis for confrontation between two major pillars of the state.
He said that he would soon go to London to collect evidences against Dr Arsalan. He demanded the CJP resign from his position for operating a commercial company on the address of the CJP House, adding that another transaction worth Rs 350 million was also there to which Dr Arsalan signed as the chief executive office of the company.
The member of the upper house questioned how Dr Arsalan’s company earned Rs 900 million and why the company’s documents and bank accounts carried address of the Chief Justice House. Abidi also alleged that Justice Chaudhry had ordered the Lahore High Court (LHC) to issue a stay order in a case pertaining to Rs 46 billion of outstanding dues of different cellular companies, adding that the CJP was not fulfilling his lawful duties.
Judiciary has become “biased”, he said, adding the judiciary should also decide about Rs 6 billion corruption of PML-N President Nawaz Sharif.
“PPP was being targeted by the SC while the cases of PPP’s opponents have been granted stay orders,” he said. The PPP senator requested the government to come forward and take steps for restoring supremacy of parliament, adding that parliament had the authority of enacting and amending the laws.
The PPP leader said all state institutions were subservient to parliament, which had the right to legislate, adding that when judges took oath under the PCO it was parliament, which cleaned their stains, also reflecting its supremacy. Abidi said that his party will “force him (Justice Iftikhar) out the same way he had been restored as a judge.” The senator has called upon the chief justice to act against the killers of armed forces’ personnel and detain around 922 Tehreek-e-Taliban prisoners freed by the judiciary.
Pointing towards Malik Ishaq, a former head of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, the senator informed the media that having above 100 cases of murder against him, Ishaq threatened the CJP in court and the CJP permitted him to be free.
He accused the CJP of being bias, and added that another leader, Ghulam Raza Naqvi, was also detained but now its above eight years that CJP had not initiated his trial. “The judiciary is sovereign, not independent,” Abidi noted. He announced he would soon bring a bill to restore all 110 PCO judges who were removed because of taking oath under the PCO, and remarked that the present PCO CJP was sheltered for the same crime. Abidi also announced to introduce another “Prosecution Bill in the House to avoid release of more terrorists as well as to detain back those released.”
Daily Times