Waseem Sajjad was paid Rs 8.2m in two cases
August 08, 2009
* Sajjad highest paid lawyer in cases related to reference against chief justice, Wajihuddin
* National Assembly told new draft foreign policy ready
* Kaira says all circular debts settled
By Tahir Niaz
ISLAMABAD: Opposition Leader in the Senate Waseem Sajjad is at top among lawyers who were paid hefty sums to defend a presidential reference against Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and in defending Pervez Musharraf in the Wajihuddin Ahmed and Others case, having received Rs 8.2 million, the National Assembly was told in a written reply on Friday.
Meanwhile, Sharifuddin Pirzada was the second highest-paid lawyer on Musharrafs defence team, having received Rs 7 million to appear in the Supreme Court in two separate cases the Tikka Iqbal Muhammad Khan case and Establishment of Islamabad High Court case.
A total sum of Rs 10.68 million was given to lawyers who were hired to defend presidential reference against the chief justice in the SC, while a total of Rs 11.5 million were given to advocates for the Chief Justice of Pakistan Vs President case.
According to the reply, of the 44 advocates who represented the government in the SC between 2005 and 2009, former attorney general Malik Muhammad Qayyum got Rs 6 million for appearing in two cases, Dr Khalid Ranjha Rs 4 million for appearing in one case in the SC, Sahibzada Raza Khan Qasuri Rs 1 million for appearing in the Chief Justice of Pakistan Vs President case.
The government of Musharraf made payments of Rs 41.68 million to 44 advocates to contest cases in the SC on behalf of the government.
A sum of Rs 2.5 million is still to be paid to Sharifuddin Pirzada, Rs 0.5 million to Chaudhry Nasir Ahmed, Rs 0.1 million to Shaukat Ali Mehar, Rs 55,000 to Muhammad Aslam Nagi, Rs 0.7 million to Raja Ibrahim Satti, Rs 0.5 million each to Ghulam Javed Khan, Azam Khan Sultanpuri and Shaukat Farid Pirzada.
Minister of State for Law and Justice Afzal Sindhu told the National Assembly that these lawyers were appointed by the office of the attorney general to pursue government cases from the beginning of 2005 to July 2009.
The majority of the remaining lawyers were paid Rs 0.5 million for appearing in the SC on behalf of the government in various cases.
The House was also told that a new draft forest policy, with an objective to enhance increase the forest area, had been prepared in consultations with all stakeholders. The policy would be tabled at a federal cabinet meeting shortly.
Minister of State for Communication Imtiaz Safdar Warriach said the government was working on improving and expanding the national road network. He said Rs 36 billion were allocated for this purpose during the last financial year, but only Rs 20 billion were released.
Adviser on Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain told the House that $441,000 were spent on the formation of a petroleum policy that was never implemented.
He said the government had prepared an indigenous petroleum policy this year at no cost.
Minister of State for Ports Sardar Nabeel Gabol told the House that Gwadar Port was fully operational, but transportation problems were arising because of the non-availability of a reliable road network.
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan said the federal government has established a separate ministry for postal services.
Minister for Information Qamar Zaman Kaira told the House the government had settled all circular debts payable to independent power producers, and they are now operating at their full capacity.
He said the government collected around Rs 127 billion as revenue through the petroleum development levy during the last financial year. That is totally documented in the budget, he said, adding that the current government did not believe in hiding facts from public representatives and welcomes all proposals to improve the economy and other sectors.
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan said the federal government had created a separate ministry for postal services because of an increase in the workload of the Postal Services Department. He said daily postal services transactions amounted to Rs 4.6 billion.
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan