Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Inspector General of Gilgit-Baltistan Police Hussain Asghar has been suspended from service for not appearing before the court hearing the hajj corruption case, SAMAA reports Thursday.

Attorney General of Pakistan Irfan Qadir produced to the court the notification in this regard.

Later, the court adjourned the hearing indefinitely.

It is pertinent to note here that Hussain Asghar was the investigation officer in Hajj scandal; but, the government transferred him to his current position as Gilgit-Baltistan police chief. Reacting to this, the court ordered him to resume hajj scam investigations.

Despite receiving repeated court orders, he did not come back nor did he appear before the court. On this, the chief justice, during last hearing, questioned how it is possible that a government officer is continuously refusing to abide by the federal government order to report back, resolving no comprise to be made on the prestige of the court.

It should be mentioned here that in yesterday hearing, the apex court again directed the government to suspend Hussain Asghar from the government service over non-compliance of the apex court order.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and comprising Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, is hearing a suo motu case of corruption in arrangements for Hajj 2010.

During the yesterday’s hearing, the court asked Attorney General Qadir to suspend Hussain Asghar and bring it to the notice of Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf that Asghar, despite the apex court order, is not reporting back to the FIA Headquarters.

The AGP submitted that Imtiaz Inayat Elahi had been appointed as an inquiry officer to for the departmental proceeding against Hussain Asghar for non-compliance of the court order.

Justice Jawwad S Khawaja remarked the matter is quite simple, for it does not pertain to a person, but to the rule of law, querying as to how the government could ensure supremacy of Section 10 Civil Servants Act. SAMAA