SC orders govt to arrange A.Q. Khan's meeting with lawyer.

ISLAMABAD -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the federal government to arrange a meeting between former nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan and his counsel Taufiq Asif at the former's residence.

The court order required that except for the team of Dr Khan's lawyers, no one else should be present in the room where the meeting would take place.

The order came when Mr Asif told a two-judge bench comprising Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Yahya Afridi that he could only exchange greetings with Dr Khan on the premises of the apex court but could not seek instructions from him in the presence of officials of intelligence agencies.

Dr Khan was brought inside the premises of the Supreme Court but was not produced before the bench hearing an appeal by Dr Khan seeking enforcement of his fundamental rights, including free movement.

'I want an exclusive meeting with my client in complete privacy where no one, not even the government's lawyer, should be present,' Mr Asif insisted, adding Dr Khan should also be allowed to address the court in person.

Nuclear scientist wants to address court during hearing of his appeal seeking enforcement of fundamental rights

Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan told the court that a meeting between Dr Khan and his lawyer would be arranged.

Dr Khan has filed the appeal to challenge the Sept 25, 2019 Lahore High Court (LHC) judgement which had rejected Dr Khan's plea on the grounds that it lacked jurisdiction in view of special security measures taken by the state.

The matter will again be taken up by the court on Thursday.

The petition requested the apex court to pronounce that fundamental rights, including freedom of movement, could not be abridged, curtailed or denied arbitrarily and under the garb of reasonable restrictions.

On Wednesday, Dr Khan also filed a one-page application before the apex court to seek a direction for the government to produce him before the apex court in the interest of justice so that he could address the bench hearing the case.

The application stated that Dr Khan's appeal was pending adjudication before the Supreme Court and was fixed for Wednesday. The petitioner was brought to the Supreme Court building on the direction of the court for his meeting with his advocates, but no exclusive meeting with the advocates was allowed in violation of the court's direction since some officials of the intelligence agencies insisted on remaining present during the meeting.

Dr Khan...