Top court to take up ex-AGP Qadir’s case tomorrow

SC bench, led by former CJ Khawaja, had suspended his licence in 2015

ISLAMABAD: The top court has fixed February 6 (Wednesday) to hear the case of former attorney general Irfan Qadir, whose practicing licence was suspended four years ago.

A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa, will take up the matter related to the suspension of Qadir’s practicing licence. Qadir remained critical of former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and his fellow judges.

He was ousted as Lahore High Court judge along with other judges through a July 31, 2009 verdict.

Later, he was removed as prosecutor general of the National Accountability Bureau by a three-judge bench led by Iftikhar Chaudhry. During the Pakistan Peoples Party regime, Qadir was appointed as AGP, but his relationship with the bench, led by Iftikhar, remained tense.

Also, it has been witnessed that former chief justice Jawwad S Khawaja was uncomfortable with him.



In November last year, the Pakistan Bar Council unanimously demanded the apex court to restore the practicing licence of Qadir.

A Supreme Court bench, led by former CJ Khawaja, had suspended his practicing licence in March 26, 2015.

However, the matter is still pending in the court. Interestingly, it is learnt that Qadir did not appear in any superior court in the last four years. Likewise, he did not move any application for an early hearing of the case.

The three-member bench, headed by Justice Khawaja, was hearing the case of purchasing APCs  worth of Rs1.23 billion from a Serbian company for Sindh police to fight terrorism in Karachi.

The court had sought from the Sindh inspector general of police details pertaining to payment of fees to Qadir with further directions to explain who paid the fees to him. Earlier, the IGP told the court that Rs2 million, out of the total of Rs3 million, had been paid.

During the proceedings, Qadir expressed mistrust over the bench led by Justice Jawwad. Earlier, he had filed an application in which he demanded withdrawal of Justice Khawaja and Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry from the bench hearing the APCs’ deal case.

Qadir said: “I respect you (Justice Jawwad), but I don’t know why you are being so harsh to me.” Justice Jawwad said: “I know how much respect you have for me.”  The ex-AGP said the Sindh chief minister had approved the purchase of APCs for Sindh police, adding both the chief minister and the IGP were not answerable to the court.

He further said the court had pressured Farooq H Naek for a favourable statement. The court did not raise any objection over the caveat of Naek, but only he was targeted, said Qadir.



When the court had ordered suspension of Qadir’s licence, Aitzaz Ahsan who was present in the courtroom regarding his case, stood up and said without hearing Qadir, his licence should not be suspended as it would be too harsh.

The court asked Ahsan to appear before the court as a lawyer of Qadir if he was so concerned about him.

Earlier, the court had directed Qadir to ensure his appearance before the court and explain his position for representing the Sindh police without a ‘vakalatnama’.

The court observed as to how Qadir was representing the Sindh IGP when the Sindh government was already being represented by Naek.

Meanwhile, the same bench issued another notice to Qadir in a contempt case against him