Courts are friends, not enemies, of govt and people: CJP

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was informed on Monday that rates of identity cards for overseas Pakistanis would be reduced after cabinet meeting A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, resumed hearing in a suo motu case regarding the government charging extra fee for the National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (NICOP) from the Pakistanis living abroad.

Appearing on notice, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal said a summary regarding giving relief to the overseas Pakistanis in issuance of NICOP had been sent to the prime minister and decision in that regard would be made in the next cabinet meeting.

During the hearing, the chief justice inquired from the interior minister if he was angry for being summoned. Ahsan, however, replied as to where shall they go after getting annoyed with the court, as they respected the courts.

The chief justice asked the minister for interior as to whether he had heard what a councillor from Hujra Shah Muqeem told the bench. "You think the courts are your enemies but we are friends of the government and people", the chief justice said.

Ahsan replied that he had also brought an important issue before the apex court and said the Lahore High Court had given a stay order against the construction of a college in Narowal for the last seven years.

The chief justice asked him to tell the case number so that they could summon it. Ahsan said it was a public interest case and added that land was allotted seven years ago to construct colleges for boys and girls. The building of the boys’ college was completed, while no construction work could be started for the other because of the stay.

Earlier, in the suo moto case on carrying funeral through sewage, Nayyab Kashif, a councillor of Hujra Shah Muqeem, informed the court about the problems faced by the people in his union council.

He alleged that the PML-N leaders were involved in encroachments in the area. The chief justice asked him the local government had to resolve the people’s problems, while the councillor said he also attended the funeral the picture of which picture went viral on social media.

He said land mafia occupied parts of the janazagah [place reserved for offering funeral prayers] and the graveyard, adding that a local park had been divided into plots which were being sold.

He alleged that Municipal Committee Chairman Zulfiqar Shah had encroached upon the janazagah and he was a close relative of the MPA elected from Hujra Shah Muqeem. When asked, the councillor said Rao Ajmal and Raza Gilani were MNA and MPA respectively and they belonged to the ruling party.

Replying to another query, he said the total population of the area was 76,000, adding that the provincial government provided Rs1.5 million to the municipal committee every month as funds. Later, the court summoned the MNA, MPA and municipal committee chairman on the next hearing, and directed the councillor to file a written statement within a week.