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Among them are included: The NICL Scam, Hajj Corruption Scandal, Pakistan Steel Mills Case, NRO Implementation Case, Re-employment Ban, Removal of honest officers investigating corruption cases being heard by apex court, and many others.
During the proceedings of the NRO Implementation case on Wednesday the bench pointed out that Ms Sethi will be cross examined and she will have to reply the above mentioned questions.
Ms Sethi though gathered her nerves to point out one judgement, demotion of 54 bureaucrats, which was implemented by the government but could not remember any other judgment. Ms Sethi will have to tell the Supreme Court that it is not only the NRO judgement which has not been implemented by the government but there is a long list of other cases as well where the government has been defying the apex court’s rulings.
From the implementation of the NRO judgment to the fair investigations into the corruption scams like Haj fraud, NICL swindle, Pakistan Steel’s plunder, Bank of Punjab scandal, re-employment fraud, the Supreme Court has been repeatedly passing orders, giving directions, and seeking changes, but the government remained disinclined to respect the top most judicious body of the country. At times government leaders ridiculed the apex court.
At other times, the SC was heard frustratingly complaining that its orders were not being implemented. On one occasion, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had to ask Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq that how many orders of the Supreme Court had not been obeyed. Haq could not do the counting. He would perhaps not know that how many attorney generals, law secretaries and other officials had to resign because of the government’s non-seriousness towards the implementation of the apex court’s decisions. Several times, the government was even grilled, but it remained adamantly defiant despite some tactical retreats.
The SC on the other hand continued to show extraordinary leniency to the federal government’s contemptuous response to its repeated orders and it is for the first time that the SC has put its foot down over non-implementation of its orders. Following is the list of government’s defiance of SC orders and events occurring out of that attitude.
- Despite clear orders of the SC, the government has not removed the contract and re-employed employees from the service who run into hundreds. Only eight have been removed so far for an eye-wash.
- Two successive establishment secretaries had to face the wrath of the prime minister for implementing the orders of the court. Sohail Ahmad, was removed and made OSD for posting Hussain Asghar back to the FIA on court orders. In the same month, Sohail’s predecessor Rauf Chaudhry had to face the wrath of the prime minister when on July 1, 2011 he had issued the notification for the return of Zafar Qureshi in the FIA to implement the SC order.
- The apex court has been ordering the ex-DG FIA Tehsin Anwer Shah to appear before the court but he too like the PPP government has been playing hide and seek with the court. The SC even ordered to bring Tehsin handcuffed before it if he does not come himself.
- In the Bank of Punjab scandal, the government refused to appoint the then Anti-Narcotics Division Secretary, Tariq Khosa, as head of the investigation team to probe into the BoP scam as was desired by the Supreme Court. The apex court wanted a fair probe into the matter because a few lawyers, including Babar Awan, were facing allegations of taking bribe in the name of judges. The CJ had observed that there were serious allegations against the law minister; therefore, the court has ordered the NAB chairman to appoint an honest officer for conducting an inquiry.
- In another high profile case regarding a Rs22 billion corruption scandal in the Pakistan Steel Mills, the then FIA Director General Tariq Khosa, who was investigating the scam, was removed after the apex court expressed its complete satisfaction with his work. The SC expressed its displeasure over the change of investigation team in the Pak Steel case and also later rejected the FIA report on Pakistan Steel Mills case. More importantly, Interior Minister Rehman Malik was issued a contempt notice in the case, which involved Riaz Lal Gee. However, the contempt proceedings were not pursued by the SC and the matter is still pending.
- Interior Minister Rehman Malik also landed in thick soup when in May 2010, the Lahore High Court dismissed an appeal against his conviction in two NAB references. Rehman Malik was granted pardon immediately (read- with advice of the Prime Minister Gilani).
- The government also did not pay any heed to SC’s direction of reinstating Zafar Qureshi as chief investigator of NICL scam. In the end it was the apex court that reinstated Zafar Qureshi to probe the mega swindle.
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