LAHORE – Veteran journalist Mujeeb ur Rehman Shami has unfolded reasons behind former president Gen. Musharraf’s war with Pakistan’s leading paper Daily Pakistan and appointment of Justice Saeed uz Zaman as governor Sindh.
Mujeeb ur Rehman Shami while expressing his views on Dunya News during the show ‘Nuqta-e-Nazar’ said that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has appointed Saeed uz Zaman as governor Sindh due to his services adding that the premier feels himself beneficiary of the 78-year-old Judge.
He went on to say that the newly elected governor also had to leave the office due to a baseless news story although he was an upright man.
Detailing the incident, he went on to explain that before Musharraf took over, the then Chief Justice of Pakistan Sajjad Ali Shah mulled to wage war against Saeed uz Zaman and that was the time when Saeed uz Zaman along with his fellows resisted and issued notice to Sajjad urging him to appoint Cheif Justice keeping seniority list in mind, as Justice Ajmal Mian was the most senior judge although he detached himself from all this.
This was the time when Nawaz Sharif applauded Saeed uz Zaman for his principle stand. When Musharraf took over in 1999, a group of Judges including Saeed Uz Zaman, Wajeeh ud Din and Nasir Aslam Zahid opposed him and defied taking oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO). They all were put under house arrest for that and were later dismissed from their offices.
The seasoned journalist recalled another interesting incident behind Musharraf’s frayed relations with Daily Pakistan newspaper.
When Saeed Uz Zaman Siddiqui was about to be expelled from Judiciary, Editor of Daily Pakistan newspaper Umar Mujeeb Shami made a telephone call to Mujeeb ur Rehman Shami asking him to invite Rafiq Tarar for the anniversary of the newspaper. The leading daily was passing through tough time at the moment due to government’s pressure.
Although Rafiq Tarar excused to attend the event, however, Saeed uz Zaman and Mujeeb ur Rehman Shami held a meeting but the former also declined to attend the event as he had already barred participation of judges in socio-political events.
The meeting which was held solely to invite Siddiqui to Daily Pakistan event raised the eye brows of the Musharraf administration as multiple newspapers published the news that the meeting was convened to deliberate on declaring Musharraf’s martial law unconstitutional.
Some newspapers also carried the baseless news that Mujeeb ur Rehman Shami met Siddiqui for conveying message of Nawaz Sharif, who was earlier ousted by Musharraf.
Saeed was sacked from the office following the publication of the news and he himself recalled the interesting incident as he was touring Lahore during lawyer’s movement.
The seasoned journalist claimed that Saeed was a man of integrity and Nawaz Sharif selected him to be the presidential candidate against Asif Ali Zardari in 2008 although Javed Hashmi, the then PML-N leader wanted to contest the election.
