Two ministers advise govt to ‘withdraw’ case against Isa

ISLAMABAD: After strong observations of Supreme Court judges, a section within the federal government has started advocating the idea of withdrawing the presidential reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa in order to avoid any dire consequences.

A few top government functionaries, influential lawyers, including two federal ministers, wanted the government to withdraw the reference in order to avoid any possible clash with the judiciary.

“I have again advised the government to withdraw the reference in the prevailing situation,” a federal minister said on the condition of anonymity.

While referring to former military ruler Pervez Musharraf’s reference against then chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the minister said that it was his consistent view that consequences of the presidential references were always “dreadful.”

A senior lawyer said that he had already advised the quarters concerned not to pursue the presidential reference against Justice Isa, otherwise, its fate might be similar to that of Musharraf’s reference against former CJP Chaudhry. He believed that the government lost its case after former attorney general Anwar Mansoor Khan’s statement against members of 10-judge full court on Feb.18.

A senior PTI lawyer, who witnessed the court proceedings, opined that judges, especially, Justice Muneeb Akhtar’s observations reflected that the reference would not be sustainable. He said that it would be the best for Prime Minister Imran Khan to withdraw the reference on the advice of the incumbent Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Javed Khan.

Though Javed Khan recused himself from arguing on behalf of the federal government, leading judge Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Feb.24 asked him to apply his mind. He has been witnessing the court proceedings daily.

Officials said that Javed Khan was also not hopeful that the reference against Justice Isa might be sustained in view of the judges’ observations, adding that the attorney general had already conveyed his opinion to the relevant quarters.