Violation of SC orders: NAB Prosecutor General refuses to relinquish charge

In defiance of Supreme Court's orders National Accountability Bureau Prosecutor General Irfan Qadir has refused to relinquish his charge and said that only President has the authority to remove him. While Spokesman Aiwan-e-Sadr Farhatullah Babar says that after SC orders Irfan Qadir is no longer the prosecutor and the Presidency has issued him no orders to continue work. It may be reminded here that a three-member bench of the Supreme Court had declared the appointments of NAB's Acting Chairman Javed Qazi and Prosecutor General Irfan Qadir, unlawful. Irfan Qadir talking to media said that he was appointed by the President and he can legally, only be removed by President Asif Ali Zardari. "I will only follow the law and constitution in this regard," he said. and thus he would continue to work until the President says otherwise. On the other hand Spokesman Aiwan-e-Sadr Farhatullah Babar said that President has issued no orders to Irfan Qadir to continue work. The SC orders in this regard are clear and without any ambiguity. He further said that NAB works under the PM and he has to decide. He said that he had talked to Law Minister Babar Awan also and he was told that soon progress would be made on the appointment of new NAB Chairman and Prosecutor. Meanwhile legal expert SM Zafar, while talking to a private TV channel, maintained that the notification could spark a confrontation between government and judiciary, saying that NAB could say that it needed time to remove Qadir and buy the time in this regard. "But if the decision has come from government then a serious crisis could emerge between the two institutions", Zafar said. He said that if the government is employing delaying tactics, and urged the PM to issue Irfan Qadir's removal orders to avert crisis. Justice (r) Tariq Mehmood, said that the orders from the apex court rendered Irfan Qadir ineligible for holding the post. The government's decision could be challenged as its against the law, Tariq asserted. He averred that the law ministry might have sent the summary to the President.

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