Govt lawyer withdraws from case

ISLAMABAD: In a surprise move, the federation’s counsel Dr Abdul Basit abruptly withdrew from representing the federation in petitions challenging the 18th amendment in the Supreme Court. Basit was served with a show-cause notice on Monday for having misled the court by attributing the objections to the petitions he voiced in court to President Zardari’s secretary-general Salman Farooqi.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Basit said that he has informed Attorney-General of Pakistan Maulvi Anwarul Haq of his decision. He categorically denied having received any call from the law ministry terminating his services. He said the federation has the right to hire a new, more effective counsel.

Basit also said that he has not been paid his fees and he intends to claim the same. He did admit, however, that since he had voluntarily withdrawn from the case, he did not have a strong case for claiming the fees and had the federation fired him, he would have had a much stronger case.

“Some people were preparing to blame me for defeat in this case and by quitting, I’m robbing them of the chance to hold me responsible,” Basit maintained. Although he refused to name the ‘conspirators’ he spoke of, he said the person “in charge of the case” was busy hatching such a plot.

Commenting on the ability of the rest of the federation’s counsels, including Raja Muhammad Ibrahim Satti, Masood Chishti, Barrister Baacha, Waseem Sajjad, Sardar Mehmood Ghazi, Basit said that except Waseem Sajjad, the entire team representing the federation was weak and would end up losing the case. Basit also spoke of possible consequences of the verdict. “If the federation loses, it will be very difficult for President Asif Zardari to remain president; if the federation wins, there will be a big judicial crisis,” Basit predicted.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 2nd, 2010.