ISLAMABAD: Senior counsel Hamid Khan on Tuesday said that his group will soon launch a white paper on the Supreme Court Bar Association’s (SCBA) elections to highlight ‘massive rigging and interference’ on part of the executive during recent polls.

In a media interaction, Mr Khan said that every effort was being made by the present cabinet of the SCBA to isolate Secretary Salman Mansoor, who belongs to his group when, according to SCBA rules, the association’s office was always manned by the secretary.

Cracks appeared in the SCBA when on Nov 14, SCBA President Mian Muhammad Rauf Atta said in a statement that the 27th Executive Committee had disowned the press statement issued by its Secretary Salman Mansoor condemning the passage of the 26th amendment to the Constitution.

In a public announcement, the SCBA president had stated that the statement issued by the association’s secretary was without the approval of the 27the executive committee of the association and that this unauthorised statement, which appeared to align with a specific political stance, does not reflect the SCBA’s position.

“During recent elections, we have noticed massive rigging at all levels in the polls on the part of the executive as well as the intelligence agencies by deploying inducements, by alluring voters to appoint them as law officers or to pick them for elevation in the superior judiciary.

“We are collecting facts regarding inducements and irregularities in the elections and will soon launch a white paper after compiling the wrongdoings,” Mr Khan said.

Moreover, he said, the sanctity of the premier and independent institution like the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) has also been tarnished by asking its office-bearers to exert their influence in favour of the ruling party.

“One of the irregularities was to appoint Zafar Mughal as the chief election commissioner to supervise SCBA elections instead of well-respected Chaudhry Afrasiab all of a sudden. The new CEC without any notice ordered recounting of votes to declare as losers Mohammad Habib Qureshi and Malik Khushal Awan, both vice presidents from the Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa and Sindh, respectively, when both had won in the earlier count.

“The change of the elections results numerically is not acceptable,” Mr Khan said. He demanded that biometric system should be introduced like being done in different high court bar associations to check irregularities in elections.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2024