SC says govt defying orders

The apex court also pointed out moves to prevent the investigation officer (in NICL case) from doing his job. The court called it flagrant violation of the court’s decision.The SC gave these remarks during the course of hearing of NICL case on Wednesday. A 3-member bench of SC presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhamamd Chaudhry and comprising Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Ghulam Rabbani took up the case for hearing.The court said Zafar Qureshi and his team would investigate the case. The court made it clear to Zafar Qureshi as well that he should complete the investigation of this case before his retirement.No one should remain under any delusion that Zafar Qureshi would retire but he would complete its investigation before his retirement,” the SC observed.Babar Awan told the court that he was present in the court being counsel for Moonis Elahi. He raised the point that Zafar Qureshi had stated before the court he was facing life threat from Moonis Elahi, therefore he remained no more impartial and we cannot expect justice from him, therefore he be separated from the investigation.The CJP said this matter would be seen later. Let us deal with the matter of Zafar Qureshi first of all,” he remarked.Earlier, Director General Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Tehsin Anwar Shah tendered his resignation in the Supreme Court.During the hearing Director General Federal Investigation Agency offered to resign before the court for being superseded by Zafar Qureshi, saying that he could not work under direction of an investigation officer.The Chief Justice advised the DG FIA to complete the inquiry and said that if he really wanted to resign then he should present his resignation to the authority concerned, not to the court.Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry said that Shah should not threaten the court with his move and resign to the authorities concerned.The members of Qureshi’s team also appeared before the court on Wednesday.Assistant Director FIA Khawaja Imad told the court that FIA Lahore Director asked him not to allow Zafar Qureshi to enter the office as he was pressurised to stop the investigator officer.Imad also said that he received bomb threat over phone and similar threat was given to him when Moonis Elahi was presented in the office for investigation.Senator Babar Awan, defence lawyer for NICL main accused Moonis Elahi, said that Zafar Qureshi could not conduct unbiased inquiry. Awan told the court that Zafar Qureshi in past also stated that he was threatened by Moonis Elahi.Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry advised provision of all files of NICL case to Zafar Qureshi who is probing the case. The Chief Justice strictly said that if anyone in this case was pressured, then he would hear the complaints in his chamber.The Supreme Court adjourned the hearing of NICL case indefinitely saying that the court would hear the case once in a month.Furthermore, the CJ reprimanded Director FIA Lahore Waqar Haider, saying he was creating hurdles in the way of implementing the court’s orders.The two officials had been summoned by the court over the bomb scare in the FIA office.Earlier on Tuesday, the court had ordered Shah to allow officers from Qureshi’s team to rejoin the probe. Moreover, the court had directed Shah to associate himself with the team to facilitate the probe.