Govt again expresses inability to remove FIA director general

The federal government again came out with an excuse on Friday that it was unable to remove Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Director General Waseem Ahmed. On the other hand, the Supreme Court has declared the report of the Interior Secretary as “joke of the year”. The government has been granted time until March to remove the FIA chief. A five-member bench of the Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, also refused to listen to the Interior Secretary’s report in the chamber. In a hearing with regard to the contract employees in the hajj corruption case, the chief justice said it was not a good tradition to hear and decide the matter behind closed doors. He questioned how the agency could work freely when its director general was working on contract basis.He said that the government could appoint Ahmed where it wanted to but it should not spoil this case. The chief justice said that he was well aware of the fact that independent decisions from the Supreme Court were not well received, but the judiciary appreciated the prime minister for his cooperation and it had no problem with the Presidency either. Establishment Division Secretary Abdul Rauf presented a report about contract employees in the court, according to which 47 retired officials had been reemployed in 22 ministries.