A district court judge in Pakistan has been removed from his post following his admonition of the country's defence secretary, Hamooduz Zaman, who has previously served as a general in the Pakistani Army, news agency PTI reported on Sunday.
Waris Ali, who was serving as the Additional District & Sessions Judge in Rawalpindi, has been transferred to Lahore's Sessions Court as an officer on special duty (OSD), which refers to a government official who has not been assigned any job but continues to receive salaries.
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"The honourable chief justice and judges are pleased to post Mr Waris Ali, Additional District & Sessions Judge, Rawalpindi as OSD at Sessions Court, Lahore in the public interest, with immediate effect," read a notification issued by the registrar of the Lahore High Court (LHC), which is in administrative control of all district courts in Pakistan's Punjab province.
The order for the apparent punishment posting was issued after Ali directed Pakistan's government to remove Zaman from his post over non-compliance with the former's order to submit a report on the military's businesses and their beneficiaries. Not only did he not comply with the judge's order, Zaman also did not appear in court, PTI reported.
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Moreover, his lead counsel also remained absent when the matter was taken up. The lead counsel's clerk submitted a memo of appearance on behalf of the defence secretary. The judge refused to accept the memo on account of the lead counsel's absence from the courtroom.
Judge Waris Ali remarked that such conduct by a senior government official was comparable to "the denial of the existence of one of the pillars of the state, i.e. the judiciary" and could not be ignored.
(With inputs from agencies)