Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The split between the groups in Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) over the Panamagate controversy has become more prominent as one of the groups on Friday supported the Supreme Court’s ruling pertaining to the formulation of Terms of References (ToRs) on its own in case the parties do not meet with consensus to regulate the proceedings of the likely Panamagate Commission.

Earlier, a total of 13 members of PBC, mostly from human rights activist Asma Jahangir’s Democratic Group had expressed their reservations over exercise of original jurisdiction of court envisaged under Article 184 (3) for hearing Panamagate Case. However, contrary to it, PBC’s Vice Chairman Dr Farogh Naseem announced that he, along with his group, was ready to assist the Supreme Court in the Panamagate case.

PBC’s vice chairman Dr. Farogh Naseem had contested from the Professional Group also known as Hamid Khan Group. It is pertinent to mention here that Hamid Khan is currently heading the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) legal team over Panamagate case. PBC’s Vice Chairman Dr. Farogh Naseem, along with the newly elected President of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Rasheed A. Rizvi supported the top court’s ruling during a press conference and said that the top court had jurisdiction to not only hear the case but to also formulate ToRs.

However, he repeated that the council would not become the party but was ready to assist the court. “We want the role of judiciary in general and the Bench in particular in the Panama matter. If the court issues notice to PBC, then it is all set to extend legal assistance in the matter,” said Farogh.

Regretting the conduct of the federal and Balochistan government, PBC’s vice chairman said that both governments paid no heed to it. The Balochistan government had announced to pay Rs 10 million to each family of killed and injured lawyers but the grant was yet to be paid, he said. “So far, the compensation has not been paid to the heirs of dead and injured persons,” said Farogh.

He termed the Quetta incident a major incident after the fall of Dhaka, adding that nothing had happened to boost the morale of Balochistan’s lawyer community. The PBC demanded the federal and Balochistan provincial governments to fulfill its commitment with the families of those killed in the Quetta blast. The PBC granted a cheque of Rs17 million to the vice-chairman Balochistan High Court Bar Council (BHCBC) Khalil Panazai for the distribution in legal heirs of lawyers killed in the Quetta carnage.

Over the appointment of Kamran Muraza as focal person of Council, Farogh said that neither the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act, 1973, nor the rules made thereafter permitted the appointment of a spokesperson, declaring Kamran Murtaza’s appointment as PBC spokesperson unlawful. “Even if we lost the majority, we cannot be sacked before our legal tenure,” he said.