Rangers surround court

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Interior Ahsan Iqbal here on Monday was barred from entering the Accountability Court (AC) by the Rangers at the time when former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif appeared before the court in connection with three corruption references pending against him.

A big contingent of the Rangers took control of the court premises without any legal permission and barred federal ministers, lawyers and media persons from the Judicial Complex. The Rangers commander didn’t appear before the interior minister when he called him

Annoyed and completely distressed, Ahsan Iqbal announced that he would resign from the office of interior minister as he could not work as a puppet. “We will not let anybody challenge the writ of the civilian government and there cannot be a state within the state,” he added.

Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique, on the other hand, tried to calm the situation. Talking to this correspondent, hesaid that Ahsan Iqbal should not behave like the opposition. “We must sort this out at any cost no matter if we have to lower our self-esteem.

This country cannot afford a third martial law and we must prevent it,” Saad Rafique said and added that everything was now getting exposed before the people of Pakistan what sort of trial was being conducted. “It is an open court where everyone should be allowed to witness court proceedings while they have started in-camera trials,” he said.

Brigadier Asif of the Rangers only sufficed to say that due to security reasons, people were stopped entering the court.

Meanwhile, AC judge Muhammad Bashir, after the court proceedings, talking to the media said he passed no such order asking the Rangers to take over the judicial complex. After much protest and efforts when media persons and lawyers finally entered the court, it was 15-20 minutes after Nawaz Sharif had departed from the court. Some lawyers complained to the AC judge that at least the lawyers should have been allowed. “We parked our vehicles nearly a mile away and could make to this court only after crossing almost three pickets,” the lawyers said. At this, the AC judge said he himself arrived at the court this way.

The AC judge, while talking to the media, said that he did not order for deployment of the Rangers but in the order he appreciated their deployment and said that due to them, security atmosphere at the court remained peaceful. The court noted that the entry of lawyers and court reporters be regularised and the registrar would conduct a meeting in this regard.

During the last hearing, the AC had directed Nawaz Sharif to deposit surety bonds worth Rs5 million in each corruption reference to ensure his presence. on Monday, Nawaz Sharif submitted Rs5 million surety bond in one corruption reference while in two others, he is likely to deposit the amount in a couple of days.

During Monday’s proceedings, a good number of PML-N senior leadership went to witness the trial but none of themcould make inside the court except Asif Kirmani. Those included Minister for Interior Ahsan Iqbal, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry, PML-N leader of the house in Senate Raja Zafarul Haq, Federal Minister for Privatization Daniyal Aziz, Minister for Railways Saad Rafique, former federal minister for information Pervaiz Rashid, PML-N MNAs Maiza Hameed, Malik Abrar, Mohsin Shahnawaz and Mian Javed Lateef while former MNA Anjum Aqeel Khan was also there.

After facing embarrassment at the hands of security officials, Ahsan Iqbal, when not allowed to enter the judicial complex, took to the media and said that the PML-N leadership had surrendered before the courts for justice but what had been done was a big question mark over the transparency of these proceedings.

Today (Monday), security arrangements of the court premises were finalised by the chief commissioner Islamabad but all of a sudden the Rangers came in and took over custody of the judicial complex. Under the law, only the chief commissioner could ask the Rangers for the security, he further said.

Ahsan Iqbal said that it was the right of the media and lawyers of the former prime minister to witness court proceedings. “Such close or in-camera trials are conducted during martial laws,” he said. The Rangers were insisting that no one except Nawaz Sharif would be allowed to enter the courtroom, which is really sad. “Being the federal minister for interior, I cannot let this happen and would certainly take notice and there will be a high-level inquiry as to who ordered the Rangers for taking custody of the judicial complex.” Iqbal said when he asked a local commander of the Rangers about this, he just went off and hid himself. “I cannot perform as a puppet minister, is this a banana republic? I will resign in this situation. There cannot be state within the state,” Iqbal further said. “We have been ridiculed. We will not let anybody challenge supremacy of the Constitution, law and civil government,” he added. “And if this supremacy of the civilian government is challenged, I will certainly resign,” he reiterated.

“The civil administration is feeling helpless and there is no transparent trial being conducted. I cannot tolerate this behavior. Whosoever has done this, will pay for it,” Iqbal said. He said that even assistant commissioner, Islamabad, had been ousted from the premises.

Former minister for information Pervaiz Rashid said that it was not an open trial, it was a hijacked trial. To a question who hijacked this, Rashid said that Supreme Court should answer this question. “We took part in this so-called accountability process to expose it and it has gone exposed. So much so that legal counsel for Nawaz Sharif, Khawaja Haris was stopped at the court entrance,” Pervaiz Rashid said that converting an open trial into in-camera proceedings was a contempt of court.

Federal Minister Daniyal Aziz said that Monday’s incident had exposed the shallowness of the case.Khawaja Saad Rafique, talking to The News, said that all predictions regarding rifts in the PML-N had backfired and they proved many television anchors wrong. He, however, said that Pakistan could not afford confrontation. “We have to keep ourselves cool and sort this out and we must not get emotional. There are a few elements who are trying to deteriorate the conditions but there is no need to panic,” he said.

Regarding the non-appearance of the children and son-in-law of Nawaz Sharif, Rafique said that their mother was seriously ill. “It is the right of the children to look after the mother,” he said.

About the court proceedings, Rafique said that the six months’ time-frame was illegal, surveillance of the Supreme Court was illegal, but Nawaz Sharif is a fighter and he will fight for the rights of the people.

It may be mentioned here that at the Federal Judicial Complex there are many other courts besides the accountability court. Ever since this trial began, full scale efforts are being made to keep the media away either on one pretext or the other. Owing to this situation, not only media persons but lawyers and litigants who have to pursue their cases suffered a lot. So much so that even the court staff and officials were also barred from entering the judicial complex.

Obaid Abrar Khan adds: Ahsan said: “I waited for the Rangers commander for 15 minutes, this is unacceptable, whosoever has done this, disciplinary action will be taken against him. I will resign as I will not be a puppet minister.”

The minister said that it was the right of Nawaz’s supporters, legal aides and media to attend the hearing as “closed trials are a hallmark of martial laws”.He said the commissioner had made special arrangements for those who wanted to attend the hearing as space was limited.

Once Iqbal had left the premises, the Rangers’ brigadier stepped out of the complex to inquire about the situation and spoke to Minister Daniyal Aziz. However, soon a number of media personnel and lawyers surrounded them and began chanting “shame, shame”, after which the officer went back to the court complex.

Later, talking to Geo News, Saad Rafique said that the accountability court judge and Supreme Court’s monitoring judge should take notice of this situation of disallowing the media and lawyers from attending the hearing.

“Today, we have seen a very unfortunate situation. We can’t see justice being served in the higher courts nor here,” he said.Rafique said that he thinks that the situation is because of faulty local arrangements rather than orders from any high-ups.