Meeting with prime minister: Will appoint competent people if work delayed, says CJP

ISLAMABAD: The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, remarked on Wednesday that no work will face stoppage as the process was underway on the directives of the court and issues will be resolved soon, especially after his meeting with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi (Tuesday), Geo News reported.

He said that if there was a delay, they would appoint able and hardworking people for speedy disposal of matters. The CJP was heading the bench hearing a case pertaining to medicines and injections being stolen from hospitals when he made these remarks.

During the hearing, the additional attorney general said that following the court orders, the ministry concerned had sent the summary regarding hospital executives in Islamabad to the Establishment Division.

Upon this, Chief Justice Nisar remarked that the court orders are being implemented quickly. All the matters are being resolved quickly since the meeting with the prime minister. "God willing, nothing will come to a standstill now," the chief justice added. He said that if the summary gets delayed, they will not wait for it.

On Tuesday, a one-on-one meeting between Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Chief Justice Nisar was held at the Supreme Court building. In the one-on-one meeting, the PM backed CJP's vision of judicial reforms.

In a statement following the two-hour-long meeting, the Supreme Court spokesperson said that PM Abbasi expressed keen interest in providing all possible assistance in revamping the judicial system of Pakistan as visualised by the chief justice. He assured the chief justice of providing all necessary resources to the judiciary to enable it to provide the people with easy access to speedy and inexpensive justice.

"The prime minister also highlighted the difficulties of the Federal Board of Revenue and the Tax Department on account of pendency of litigation involving revenue in different courts. The chief justice assured the prime minister that he will look into the matter and such litigation shall be fast-tracked," said the statement.

Our correspondent adds: Meanwhile, the Supreme Court gave one-month time to the federal government to bring back former Pakistan ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani. A three-member bench of the apex court, headed byChief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, heard the suo motu case regarding the Memo Commission.

The court asked the secretaries ministries of interior and foreign affairs how many days they required to bring Haqqani back. The Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Bashir Memon, informed that the judicial magistrate, Karachi, had issued arrest warrant for Haqqani that would be sent to Washington and his home in Karachi. An FIR had been registered against Husain Haqqani regarding misappropriation of funds.

The DG FIA said there is a process for issuing Red Warrant, which they have to adopt. He informed that next month he is going to America, adding there they will hire the services of a lawyer for filing a case against the ex-envoy in the USA.

The chief justice observed in a TV talk show people talked about the law and the Constitution, and he was mulling over banning commentary on cases pending in court. He said in talk shows on TV channels, it is said why the court had reopened old cases, and comment made what objectives the apex court wanted to achieve through this case. Justice Saqib said the court had no ulterior designs but only wanted the implementation of law.

He said there should be no discussion on pending cases in the media, adding they had noticed that talk show participants who have no knowledge of law discuss them. He said they had been seriously thinking to ban programmes wherein the pending cases are debated.