Kaira puts a spin on report 24 hours after its denial

By Ansar Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: The political and legal circles are
deeply confused and worried about the latest PPP government spin on a
baseless report about a meeting between Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz
Sharif and Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

The
government statement was made by Information Minister Qamar Zaman
Kaira, despite the fact that not only the newspaper which had first
published the meeting story, apologised and fully retracted its report
but the Punjab government also denied it totally.

Yet Mr Kaira
attacked the Chief Justice, which immediately resulted in a sharp and
strong rejoinder by the Supreme Court spokesman who said those trying
to politicise this baseless issue would be taken to task.

Analysts
and observers are trying to figure out what the motive of Information
Minister Kaira was to ignore the total apology, denials and retraction
of the said report full 24 hours before he made the comments on the
imaginary meeting.

Talking to the media outside the Parliament
building, Kaira had stated that the CJP should himself take notice of
his meeting with the Punjab chief minister. Either totally ignorant of
the denials or deliberately raising the issue, Kaira persisted with his
comments as if he believed that Shahbaz Sharif did meet CJ Chaudhry.

Immaturely
behaving like a street boy instead of a federal minister, he added that
the detailed judgment on the NRO was still awaited that the news of
Chief Justice’s meeting with Shahbaz Sharif had appeared, while no
clarification has been made in this regard.

Supreme Court’s
spokesman immediately reacted with a strongly worded denial terming
Kaira’s outburst needless and warning that strict action would be taken
against those who were debating and making statements on a baseless
report.

The spokesman said that English daily The Nation had not
only offered apology but also published a clarification in this regard.
The paper also asked its reporter to give explanation on the issue, the
statement said. The spokesman further said that some elements were
debating this report to achieve their vested interests.

“The
report is baseless and uncalled for and is an attempt to affect the
reputation of the institution,” it said, adding, “Those issuing any
statement in this regard will have to face serious consequences.”The
spokesman said that if anyone had any authentic information about the
meeting, he could present to the Registrar of the Supreme Court.

When
The News correspondent Ahmad Noorani talked to Kaira late in the
evening to get his views over what he had said early in the day, the
information minister was not willing to offer any comments or offer an
apology.

Kaira was repeatedly told about the front-page apology
of the newspaper as well as the Punjab government categorical denial
but still he said that he did not want to discuss the issue.

Analysts
were left with the feelings that Kaira’s utterances were part of the
post-NRO government campaign against the superior judiciary and the
Chief Justice of Pakistan. This impression was strengthened when some
mediapersons were also encouraged to file speculative stories on the
conjectured meeting between the CJP and the Punjab CM.