Pak CJ has heated exchange with security official's lawyer

Pakistan's outgoing Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry today got into a heated exchange with the Frontier Corps Inspector General's lawyer while hearing a contempt of court case against the officer.
"I will not present my client in front of a political institution," lawyer Irfan Qadir said, referring to newspaper articles that said the judiciary had increasingly become politicised.
Chaudhry, whose tenure as Chief Justice ended today, remarked that Qadir should have apologised and the court was showing patience at the request of Attorney General Munir Malik.
"Qadir is interfering in the court's business and his license can be suspended," he said.

The lawyer responded by saying that the court could go ahead and cancel his licence, The Express Tribune reported.
The senior Frontier Corps official has refused to appear in the apex court despite several summons issued in connection with a case of 35 "missing persons" or people detained without charge by security agencies.

During the hearing, Chaudhry was visibly frustrated by the lawyer's remarks and said, "We are not sitting here and playing games."
Justice Jawad Khawaja, another member of the three-judge bench hearing the case, noted that all institutions are bound to follow Article 190 of the Constitution, which states that executive and judicial authorities should act in aid of the Supreme Court.

Giving its verdict in the "missing persons" case, the court ordered the production of the detainees before the head of the Criminal Investigation Department.
The court held Frontier Corps Inspector General Maj Gen Ijaz Shahid responsible for producing the "missing persons".
It also separated the contempt of court case from the Balochistan law and order case and said the next hearing would be held on December 19.