In a major development, the newly-appointed Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) has debunked the remarks being attributed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Atta Bandial on social media, saying that they were “misconstrued”.
According to the details, AGP Shehzad Ata Elahi wrote a letter to Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, in which he stated that the CJP remarks were taken out of context. He himself was present in the court during the hearing and can confirm that the Chief Justice in his remarks did not say that only one prime minister was honest in the history of Pakistan, the Chief Justice said that a good and independent premier was removed through Article 58/2B.
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“An incorrect version of certain observations by the Honorable Chief Justice of Pakistan made that day during the proceedings of Constitution petition no. 21/2022 titled Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi vs Federation of Pakistan [is being] circulated on social media platforms,” AGP said in the letter.
“I’m writing the letter so that you as the law minister and former leader of the house should keep the correct facts to the fellow senators,” the AGP also said.
Attorney General for Pakistan Shehzad Elahi has clarified that CJP Umar Ata Bandial did not remark that only one prime minister ( Junejo) in the history of Pakistan was honest. He urged law minister to share correct facts in this regard to fellow parliamentarians. pic.twitter.com/kUumW4MrKp
— Hasnaat Malik (@HasnaatMalik) February 13, 2023
On Friday, the Senate witnessed a heated debate between the treasury and the opposition members as both locked horns over Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial’s remarks about parliament during a hearing on Thursday.
During the hearing, the CJP said that elections were the “real answer” to all issues and observed that the country’s most honest prime minister was sent packing by invoking a now-defunct article of the Constitution. Most inferred that the CJP was referring to former premier Mohammad Khan Junejo, who served in the late 1980s.
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The remarks triggered a strong reaction from the senate members. The harshest criticism of the CJP’s remarks came from Senator Irfanul Haque Siddiqui of the PML-N, who said the country’s top judge had no right to declare prime ministers – from Liaquat Ali Khan to Imran Khan – dishonest.