‘Rights violation’: Ex-OGRA chief approaches UN

Tauqir Sadiq claims he was deprived of his right to a fair trial by govt, judges.

ISLAMABAD:

In a novel move, a former chairman of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, Tauqir Sadiq – who is allegedly involved in an Rs83 billion scam – has moved the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, claiming he was facing human rights violations at court trial of graft cases against him.

A team of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is currently on the hunt for Sadiq in Punjab in order to arrest him over his alleged involvement in the scam.

Through an email sent to The Express Tribune, Sadiq claimed that he was out of the country and that he had filed a complaint before the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

When contacted, however, a NAB spokesperson said intelligence confirmed Sadiq was in the country. He added that the former Ogra chairman should have contacted the courts to present his point of view if he had reservations over the inquiry.

Sources said the former chairman had registered a complaint to the UN Commissioner for Human Rights against the Pakistan government as well as judges, claiming he had been deprived of his right to a fair trial as a larger bench was not constituted and his reply to a petition in 2011 was not considered.

“The Supreme Court ordered to deprive me of my salary that I had lawfully earned through my work. The respondents (judges and government of  Pakistan) have imposed a penalty of return of my salary without telling me the offence committed or any law which authorises them to do so,” Sadiq said, adding that it was a violation of Article 1(2) &15.

He further said that one-sided and arbitrary hearings of the cases had deprived him of his right to a fair trial, as his replies to the petitions against him were not considered.

“NAB had completed the inquiry without my participation and is not ready to provide me any kind of incriminating evidence or inquiry report or any other document,” he said.

“Under the Constitution of Pakistan and charter of the United Nations, the state has to ensure independence of judiciary which in fact has been hijacked,” he added.

The former Ogra chairman further claimed that, during his short tenure, the performance of the authority was one of the best in the country and could also be compared with any of the world’s best-performing institutions.

There is a procedure in the Ogra Ordinance to remove the chairman and take action against him in case of misconduct. The same kind of procedure is provided for army officers, judges of the Supreme Court and high courts in their respective laws.  “The Supreme Court had held in the Asfandyar Wali case PLD 2001 SC 607 that where a special procedure is provided to deal with misconduct cases, the NAB Ordinance is not applicable; but in the complainant’s case the same provision of law has been disregarded,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 10^th, 2012.