CJP’s ‘honest premier’ remark misconstrued: AGP

ISLAMABAD: Attorney General for Pakistan Shehzad Ata Elahi on Monday said that Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umer Ata Bandial did not give any remarks on the honesty of the prime ministers of Pakistan.

In a letter addressed to Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar, available with ‘The News’, the attorney general clarified that the observation regarding the CJP’s remarks was “incorrect”. The AG stressed the federal law minister share correct facts in this regard with fellow parliamentarians for setting the record straight.

On the other hand, he said that the social media reported that the CJP had commented on the honesty of the prime ministers of the country. He said that he was present in the court during the hearing and can confirm that no such remark on the honesty of the prime ministers of Pakistan was made by the apex court’s chief justice.

“In fact, the chief justice had recalled the regret expressed by the then chief justice of Pakistan Justice Nasim Hassan Shah in 1993, in the aforementioned case, about the Supreme Court’s proceeding ahead with general elections instead of restoring the National Assembly in 1988,” the AG added.

He further said that the CJP went on to comment on the then-deposed prime minister Muhammad Khan Junejo as being a very good and independent man who was removed through Article 58(2)(b).

Shehzad Ata Elahi further said that the observation, that Junejo was the “only honest premier” of the country, seems to have “been misconstrued and misstated in the social media as if in the history of Pakistan only one prime minister (Junejo) was honest.

Nevertheless, an incorrect narrative about the CJP’s observations was circulated on the social media, the AG clarified. “The above is being shared with you, as the federal law minister, member of Senate and former leader of the House in Senate and it is hoped that you may share the correct facts with your fellow parliamentarians for setting the record straight,” he said.