Ex-CJP Saqib Nisar wanted to show PM Imran he was a ‘big man’: Azam Swati

ISLAMABAD: Azam Swati, Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, lashed out at the former chief justice of Pakistan, saying Saqib Nisar also did some good work but three months before his retirement, if one looked at his decisions, one finds Nisar destroyed the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute, gave decision on Centaurus among others. Chief Justice Jamali had also acted beyond the call of duty and got involved in adventurism.

Swati said he did not talk about all the decisions of Saqib Nisar. "But you can ask the judicial fraternity and media that in the last three to four months, how Saqib Nisar behaved with people. How he treated them, addressed them. Have you seen any chief justice talking so bitterly? Look at the tape how he behaved with IGP, council member Gilgit-Baltistan. I believe the most important position with regard to giving respect, attitude and according to law, it is of the chief justice."

Swati said Justice (retd) Mian Saqib Nisar never intended to improve Pakistan's justice system but instead he wanted to tell Prime Minister Imran Khan that he was a "big man". "Saqib Nisar was going towards adventurism," Swati said in an interview. "He never intended to improve the justice system."

Swati, the then federal minister for science and technology, had to resign from the cabinet after Nisar hinted at disqualifying him under Article 62(1)(f) for misusing his authority and transferring the Islamabad Police chief after a brawl involving a poor family had taken place.

The minister called the former chief justice a "small man" and said that his attitude and way of addressing people in the court was inappropriate. In April, 2019, Prime Minister Khan re-inducted Swati into his cabinet as minister for parliamentary affairs.

Swati said Justice (retd) Nisar’s order in the case against him was unlawful. "It is called adventurism in legal jurisprudence," he added. The minister said that he has never been accused of corruption but the allegation against him was of misuse of authority. "I resigned immediately and was made minister again after I cleared myself of charges," he said. He said that on one allegation, Imran's minister resigned on his own, not as per law.

Commenting on Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa's verdict in the extension case of General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Swati said that the chief justice could give an advisory opinion but he can't order parliament to legislate.