MicroPakistan

Most of you may be aware that Javed Hashmi has been released by the SC following his life sentence for defaming the army. There were legal arguments presented by Mr Hashmi’s counsel on which the three-member bench relied, however it reassures a lot of Pakistanis that the balance had tilted in favour of justice. Very rarely have the people felt that their judiciary is indepedent in the face of military pressure; this is one of those times in Pakistan’s history.

The News reported yesterday:

Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered on Friday the release of firebrand opposition leader Makhdoom Javed Hashmi who was sentenced to life in jail for defaming the army. The decision for the release of Javed Hashmi, de facto leader of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League led by exiled
former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, came a day after Sharif petitioned the court seeking his return to the country. “The sentence is suspended and he (Hashmi) should be released immediately on bail if he is not wanted in any other case,” said Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry who headed a three-member bench. Jubilant supporters chanted slogans outside the court building as they heard the court decision. Javed Hashmi, one of Musharraf’s most outspoken critics, was arrested in 2003 for circulating an unsigned letter to reporters purporting to come from the army. The letter criticised Musharraf’s support for the U.S.-led war on terror and called for an investigation into the 1999 Kargil conflict. A court later convicted Hashmi
and sentenced him to 23 years in prison.

On the other hand President Musharraf has appointed Justice Qayyum as the Attorney General. The AG is not a post most Pakistanis are either aware or too interested in or affects them much, but in the recent CJ case it is the former AG Makhdoom Ali Khan who was used as the scapegoat. Justice Qayyum, a staunch PML-N supporter, has changed sides recently and joined the Musharraf camp. He appeared as the government’s counsel in the CJ case and subsequently lost the case. Obviously, he has been in the President’s good books recently and has been defending him and his actions vis-a-vis the presidential reference against the CJ. Much cannot be said about the man, but he does not have an impeccable past record like former AG Makhdoom Ali Khan or the other possible candidate for the post Ahmer Bilal Soofi. DAWN says:

Justice Qayyum had to tender his resignation as LHC judge when he, along with Justice Rashid Aziz, was declared as “biased” by the Supreme Court in 2001 in the hearing of a corruption case against former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Guardian UK’s report on that case against the Prime Minister and Justice Qayyum’s role in it says:

In its ruling this week the supreme court found a string of complaints against the judge’s handling of the case and noted “bias is floating on the surface of the record.”

“We are convinced that the trial in this case was not fair and on account of bias of the Ehtesab Bench (Pakistan’s anti-corruption courts) the trial of the appellants stands vitiated,” it said.

The court found Justice Qayyum and his wife had applied for diplomatic passports on April 17, 1998 after taking up the case. Diplomatic passports are not usually issued to judges and the foreign ministry opposed the application.

Then on April 27 Justice Qayyum issued an order freezing the properties and assets of Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari. Three days later the then prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, a bitter rival and opponent of Ms Bhutto, granted the judge and his wife diplomatic passports.

The supreme court said that this showed the judge had “acquired a personal interest” in the case and that there was “close liaison” between the judge, Saifur Rehman, the minister in charge of the anti-corruption bureau, and Mr Sharif himself. It also said that the judge had ignored the 10 other accused in the trial and rushed the hearing.