Lawyers’ bodies apologise for remarks by Musharraf’s counsel
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ISLAMABAD: Leaders of the lawyers’ apex bodies apologised to the Special Court on Thursday for the indecent behaviour of a senior lawyer representing former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf in the high treason case.
Rana Ijaz Ahmed had accused Justice Faisal Arab, who heads the three-member Special Court, of playing the role of hired assassins and also attributed an unknown threat to the judge. Addressing the court on March 11, Rana Ijaz, a former law minister of Punjab, said he had received “life threat from Lyari gang” and presumed that Justice Arab was behind it. He demanded registration of an FIR against the judge.
Taking exception to the remarks, the court banned his entry into the courtroom and forwarded the matter to the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) for taking disciplinary action against the counsel.
On Thursday, PBC vice-chairman Mohammad Ramzan Chaudhry and Supreme Court Bar Association president Kamran Murtaza met judges of the Special Court to discuss the March 11 incident. Sources privy to the meeting told Dawn that they had apologised to the judges for the rude behaviour of the lawyer and assured them that he would be careful in future.
When contacted, Ramzan Chaudhry said the PBC had already held a meeting with Rana Ijaz and in order to resolve the issue he along with the SCBA president met the honourable judges of the Special Court. “Things will be settled down and I am hopeful that Rana Ijaz will attend the proceedings of high treason case,” he added.
TREASON CASE: Meanwhile, Gen Musharraf’s counsel Anwar Mansoor Khan concluded on Thursday his arguments on an application the defence team had filed against the appointment of Akram Sheikh as head of the prosecution team. He alleged that Mr Sheikh had expressed his desire to prosecute Gen Musharraf under Article 6 of the Constitution even before the filing of a compliant by the government and his appointment as chief prosecutor.
“He (Advocate Sheikh) publicly said that he had accepted the case against Gen Musharraf because he had been against the dictatorship since his childhood,” the defence lawyer said, adding:
He accused Mr Sheikh of deliberately concealing important facts from the court, and despite its clear directives he did not produce an inquiry report on Gen Musharraf prepared by a four-member FIA team.
