With the way the Supreme Court is framing contempt charges against Pakistans Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani,even Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan,Pakistans star advocate,may just fail to successfully defend him when he appears in court on February 22. I thought I had a good case,but the court thought otherwise, rues Ahsan. Gilani heads the Pakistan Peoples Party-led federal government which dragged its feet over the reinstatement of the judiciary and the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) both deposed in 2007 by the then president Gen Pervez Musharraf. The same Chief Justice,Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry,is now trying Gilani over a matter pertaining to President Asif Ali Zardari. Ahsan says Pakistans judiciary has now become a decisive factor in many issues and is a major player in the constitutional scheme of things, which was not the case earlier. It is now the CJP versus the PPP. Some say it was clever of the PPP to seek the services of Ahsan,who is not just a legal luminary of Pakistan,but also the advocate who got the CJP his job back. Ahsan had resolved to never appear before the CJP in court. I recused myself for four years from appearing before Justice Chaudhry as it could be misread as conflict of interest. This time,I made an exception because Gilanis was a difficult case. It was a testing experience for both the CJP and me, Ahsan told The Indian Express over the phone from Islamabad. He did his job,I did mine, he said,adding that his resolve to not appear before Chaudhry remains intact. I wont appear before him unless the case is pro bono or I am called as an amicus curiae, Ahsan stated.
