November 7th, 2020
By Ahmad Saeed
LAHORE
In a recent development, Zia-ul-Haq Makhdoom, President of the Sindh High Court Bar, took notice of a report in Voicepk.net, published a few days ago, and in the presence of CJP Justice Gulzar, expressed serious concern over the nature of allegations made by the former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Yasin Azad.
While Azad made allegations that Prime Minister Imran Khan had held a meeting with senior members of bar associations last month requesting them to help in removing Justice Qazi Faez Isa, in a cut and dry retort, Ali Zafar, the President of the Insaf’s lawyers’ wing and the Justice Lawyers Forum, instantly denied the allegations made.
Yasin Azad had also claimed that the PM had been targetting Jang Group/Geo’s editor-in-chief Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman and had threatened strict action against him, but Advocate Ali Zafar denied this as well.
“I asked the PM myself and he denied that he had never requested any lawyers’ delegation to help him with the Justice Isa case, and neither did he ask for help regarding Mir Shakil’s case,” said Zafar who is himself a former President of the SCBA. “I believe Mr Yasin Azad has received incorrect information from somewhere, and he has made these claims based on this misinformation.” He went on to talk about the situation.
“Where the Justice Isa case is concerned, the judgment is already there and the bars are a party in the case and have taken a specific stance; saying that the PM had asked for help from the bars is a baseless claim. It is not possible.”
Zafar made the comments on Saturday, November 7, in an exclusive interview with Voicepk.net. “As for Mir Shakil’s case, it has been filed by NAB and the matter is under process in the Supreme Court, and there is no reason to give any statement in that regard.”
AZAD MAINTAINS HIS VERSION
Despite these denials, Yasin Azad asserted the truth of his claims to Voicepk.net and said that if probed, he might even release the names of the people who attended and organized the meeting. Since its release two days ago, this news has created ripples in the legal and political fraternities of the entire country.