What is Cooking: A secret, puzzling tryst in Europe between Aitzaz and senior Supreme Court Judge

 

Geneva, Switzerland: A secret meeting between the counsel for the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the chief of the full bench of the Supreme Court that reinstated Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has taken place in the cool and safe climes of Europe, adding another twist to the political crises in Pakistan.

 

Well placed sources disclose that Aitzaz Ahsan, the leading defense lawyer defense counsel of the Chief Justice of Pakistan against the defunct presidential reference and Justice Khalil ur Rehman Ramday, the president of 13 member larger bench of the Supreme Court, spent two days in Geneva, Switzerland, in the border French town Saint Genis Pouilly.

 

Justice Ramday and the eminent lawyer, parliamentarian and a leading light of Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party , Aitzaz Ahsan, were both part and parcel of the trail of the nerve wrecking and most controversial presidential reference against top judge of the country.

 

The day-to-day hearing of the defuct reference was started on 15^th May and completed on the historic decision of the reinstatement of the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Choudhry on 20^th July. Justice Ramday delivered remarkable observations during the high profile proceedings, indicating tilt of the court before concluding proceedings.

 

Both Aitzaz and Justice Ramday arrived separately in Geneva. While Justice Ramday is on summer vacations, Aitzaz was in London to attend the Federal Council meeting of the Peoples Party. He reached Geneva on 17^th August in the evening to meet his daughter, Saman Ahsan, who lives here at Rue Antoine Carteret 1, 1202.

 

A great orator of present times, writer, scholar and legal eagle, Aitzaz is shrewd politician also. He has been showing an independent streak against even his pary based on the response he received as de facto driver of the Chief Justice during his sweep of th country ‘s heartland before the case was decided in the Supreme Court.

 

In Geneva, the sources say,  he preferred to visit a Pakistani friend Rashid Amjad at his residence at 11 Avenue de Bude where Justice Ramday was already present. After a brief meeting, Aitzaz along with his daughter Saman, Justice Ramday and Mr and Mrs Rashid Amjad left for another French tourist resort saint Genis Pouilly where another Pakistani Ijaz akhtar hosted a lavish dinner.

 

The outcome of these dinners and meetings are not known to anyone, but “angels on duty” are trying to analyze if all these episodes are incidental or planned and point to something legal tat is cooking in Pakistan’s pressure cooker situation.

 

“What was important matter that could be discussed in Pakistan that forced the judge and jurist to visit Geneva secretly.”

The series of meetings and dinners, particularly in the backdrop of the historic larger bench verdict of the Supreme Court in the case of the reference against the Supreme Court, means something is cooking and aftereffects of these trysts will start becoming apparent in the coming days. Especially, when detail judgment of the Supreme Court verdict of 20the July is still awaited.

 

One thing, however, is clear that this secret meeting is apparently the violation of the new enforced code of the conduct of the judges that bars any judge meeting any party to any case the judges deal with.

 

Something drastic is foreseen either at the Supreme Court level or combined with the outcome of the rapid political developments that have the people of Pakistan riveted with the presidential and general elections looming on the horizon.