Munir Malik and Riaz Haq Debate Ex-CJ Chaudhry's Conduct in Silicon Valley
By Riaz Haq
Viewpoint From Overseas team invited former Chief Justice of Pakistan Mr Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and former Attorney General of Pakistan Mr Munir A. Malik for a conversation at our Silicon Valley studio last week.
The former chief justice did not respond to our invitation. But we were fortunate to have Mr Munir Malik visit us and respond to the questions often asked by people here in the valley.
The format chosen was essentially a debate format moderated by VPOS host Faraz Darvesh.
Mr Malik vigorously defended the lawyers' movement, a movement to bring rule-of-law to Pakistan. The former attorney general supported the actions of CJ Chaudhry before, during and after his restoration to the top bench, including Mr Chaudhry's unprecedented use of suo moto and contempt of court actions . Mr Malik rejected allegations that Mr Chaudhry covered up his son Arsalsan Iftikhar's corruption .
Riaz Haq responded by pointing out the lawless conduct of lawyers during and after the lawyers' movement. Mr Haq pointed out that Mr Chaudhry took PCO oaths twice and remained a compliant judge until his support for his son Arsalan Iftikhar's illegal and rapid promotions and conduct were discovered in 2007 and a reference was filed against Chief Justice Chaudhry. The issues of corruption brought out in that reference have remained unresolved mainly due to obstruction of justice by the Chaudhry Court.
Faraz focused on the following questions:
How did Mr Munir Malik start and lead Pakistan lawyers' movement?
Did ex-CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry meet the lawyers' expectations of him?
Was the effort to restore him worth it?
ViewPoint from Overseas host Faraz Darvesh discusses these questions with Pakistan's former attorney general Munir Malik and Riaz Haq ( www.riazhaq.com )
Here's a video of the Malik-Haq debate :
http://vimeo.com/95712226
Ex AG Munir Malik Defends Ex CJ Chaudhry, Lawyers Movement in Pakistan from WBT TV on Vimeo .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnh0muCowbA&feature=youtu.be
