LAHORE: Chief Justice of Pak­­istan Mian Saqib Nisar on Sunday reprimanded Punjab Highway Patrolling DIG Ghulam Mahmood Dogar for attempting to influence the Supreme Court in a matter through the former’s son-in-law.

“How dare you even think of approaching me through a family member?” CJP Nisar asked the officer.

The CJP also asked the officer to reveal the name of the person who had advised him to influence the court through his son-in-law. “I am doing jihad and people are trying to influence me for relief in their cases,” he regretted.

CJP Nisar then summoned his son-in-law, Khalid Rehman, and later made it clear to him that he was his son at home, but not in court where he appeared before a chief justice.

Mr Rehman, who came to the court premises amid police protocol, said: “I offered an unconditional apology to the chief justice.” He said he knew Mr Dogar for a long time. Mr Dogar, he added, wanted names of his foreign wife and children remained placed on the exit control list.

CJP Nisar said he would decide later whether to accept the apology of his son-in-law and the police officer and adjourned the hearing.

Mirjam Aberras Lahdeaho, a Finish-origin Canadian, had filed an application to the chief justice for removal of her and her children’s names from the ECL. Previously, the lady had got custody of her children Qasim Dogar (17) and Jaffer Dogar (13) on a court order. Zahra Dogar, 19, is the third child.

Ms Lahdeaho claimed that she had been fraudulently deprived of lawful custody of her children. She said she married to DIG Dogar on March 6, 1997 in Lahore and stayed in Pakistan for over 12 years before moving to Canada as a permanent resident in 2009. She said the officer had detained the children in Pakistan and not allowed them to see their mother till a court ordered him to do so.

Arrest ordered

The CJP ordered the Federal Investigation Agency and Central Investigation Agency to arrest a man for depriving his former fiancée of over Rs5 million and property fraudulently.

Earlier, the complainant, Zille Huma, told the chief justice that her former fiancé, Abu Waqas, had been extending her life threats since she had demanded her cash and property back.

CJP Nisar ordered FIA and CIA personnel to arrest the man and complete a joint investigation within two weeks.

Meanwhile, during the hearing of human rights complaints, the chief justice noted that there was no graveyard in Shadiwal, a locality of Lahore, and constituted a commission to inspect encroachment upon graveyards.

Chief Secretary retired Captain Zahid Saeed told the CJP that the government had established a model graveyard in the city under the project of “Shehr-i-Khamoshan”.

At this, the top judge ordered the chief secretary to strictly ensure that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s photo was not used for this project’s advertisement. The CJP also constituted a commission comprising a government law officer and private lawyers to inspect encroachment upon the land of graveyards.

‘Illegal’ appointment

Hearing another complaint, the CJP took notice against the alleged illegal appointment of National College of Arts (NCA) principal Murtaza Jafri.

An NCA teacher, Rao Dilshad, told the CJP that rules were being altered to benefit Mr Jafri, who had already completed his regular term.

CJP Nisar directed the chief secretary to submit a report on the matter as well as on the criteria set for filling the slots of vice chancellor at 37 public sector varsities across Punjab.

The CJP asked the chief secretary to also submit record of the excessive salaries being received by doctors working at Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute (PKLI). “I’ve heard doctors at the institute are getting over Rs1.5 million each,” the CJP said, while asking the chief secretary about the name of the PKLI head.

The chief secretary said Prof Dr Saeed Akhtar was PKLI chief executive officer. He added that he was on leave to perform Umrah.

CJP Nisar then asked the top bureaucrat if the PKLI head’s spouse also worked at the same institute. He directed the chief secretary to furnish salary structure of complete staff of the PKLI by Sunday evening at his residence.

He also ordered the chief secretary to fill the vacancy of Punjab chief information commissioner without delay and purely on merit.

As a large number of complainants were present in the Lahore registry of the apex court to get their grievances addressed, CJP Nisar directed the chief secretary and a deputy inspector general of police to look into their applications and issue necessary directions to the departments concerned for the resolution of their issues.

The CJP, however, heard complaints involving women and family issues in his chamber for hours.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2018