The Supreme Court has summoned attorney-general Maulvi Anwarul Haq to present the record of the suspension of Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) additional director-general (DG) Zafar Ahmed Qureshi, as well as four other investigating officers of the FIA on Thursday (today).
Qureshi, the lead investigator of the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) scam, has been shuttled back and forth in the tussle between the government and the superior judiciary.
He was reinstated by the apex court on, July 1, after Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani refused to reappoint him to the post of additional director-general FIA, despite the Supreme Court’s orders to do so.
The government ousted Qureshi for a second time on July 4 for allegedly issuing statements to the media as well as assuming his posts without being notified by the establishment division.
The court directed the attorney-general to produce the notification of Qureshi’s suspension and the basis on which the decision was taken.
The court also directed Qureshi to appear before the court and directed the attorney-general to place on record the orders passed by DG FIA for transfer of four investigators including deputy director Javed Hussain, assistant directors Muhammad Ahmed and Khalid Anees and inspector Muhammad Sarwar.
The officials, who were initially investigating the NICL scam, were transferred by the government immediately after Qureshi was reinstated by the court.
‘No interference’
The Supreme Court, in its last hearing, had directed the incumbent DG FIA “to extend all necessary assistance to [Qureshi] for carrying out investigation of the cases … with respect to NICL scam and any other matter connected and related thereto.”
The court had ruled that “no interference of any nature whatsoever shall be caused either by DG FIA or any other authority and [Qureshi] would take over the charge of the investigation of the case of NICL scam … immediately and would be free to take all such steps and adopt all measures in discharge of his duties necessary for conducting transparent investigation.”
Published in The Express Tribune, July 7th, 2011.
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