Caught red-handed: Petitioner distances himself from fake order

ISLAMABAD: The man who had submitted a fake order before a local court disassociated himself from it saying his previous counsel had allegedly provided him the order and he did not know about it until a judge caught it.

Justice Athar Minallah of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) caught the court order faking his name and signature which he never issued. To top it all up hearing of the case did not even take place on the day the order was issued.

These details came to light last Tuesday during the hearing of a contempt petition filed by Suheyl Zafar seeking implementation of the questionable previous order for his regularisation and later termination from service at the foreign affairs ministry.

On Friday last, in an affidavit detailing how he came into possession of the forged document, he stated that the order was provided to him by his previous counsel.

During the last hearing the petitioner’s counsel Riasat Ali Azad, asked the court to proceed against the culprits as the copy of the order was provided to him by the petitioner claiming that the petitioner had engaged another lawyer, who had produced the fake document.

Ironically, the petition refers to the actions of respondents as ‘cockamamie, zany, very comical’ and other terms that could be applied to the act of forging a court order.

While talking to The Express Tribune, Azad claimed he came to know that the order was not available with the copy branch of the IHC, and the case had not been fixed before the court when he applied for the attested copies.

He has filed a contempt petition before the court arguing that the respondents — all senior foreign ministry officials — have openly disregarded and disrespected the court order passed on January 27, 2015 and deserve severe punishment.

On the dubious document, apart from using Justice Minallah’s name and signature, Azad claimed that Zafar’s previous counsel — Barrister Mian Mumtaz Hussain — had used the names of Advocate Yasir Arafat Abbasi and Deputy Attorney General Malik Faisal Rafique in the forged order directing the foreign ministry officials to hand over charge of office to the petitioner within 15 days of the passage of the order.

Azad revealed that Hussain had assured the petitioner that he would get a review order on an earlier petition, which was disposed of without providing relief to the petitioner. He had claimed that the so-called barrister not only compiled the fake order, he gave it to the petitioner, took him to the ministry, and got a receiving stamp on it from an additional secretary at the foreign ministry.

The court issued notices to the foreign affairs ministry directing to submit a reply on Monday.

Hussain had told Zafar that he had resigned from the post of Sindh High Court deputy registrar and started private practice, Azad said, adding that his business card stated that he is also the chairman of Pakistan Prisoner Welfare Foundation.

The petitioner remained a client of Azad except for the short period during which the fake order was obtained. Azad said his client had engaged at that time Hussain for some personal reasons.

The case will be taken up on Monday (today).

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2015.