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A foreign national may record his statement via video link,
Barrister Amjad Malik, Chair APL
LONDON, January 23, 2012 – Chair of the Association of Pakistani Lawyers (APL), a team of Pakistani origin lawyers, Solicitors, Barristers, and Judges in UK, Barrister Amjad Malik has supported the idea of Mansoor Ejaz recording his statement via video link.
“It is a viable option in a situation where a commission appointed by the Supreme Court agrees to a joint application to address the security concerns of a witness not a Pakistani national and Govt is reluctant to provide such security thus sanity requires proportionate steps to record a witness statement and avoid unnecessary public unrest”, said Mr. Malik.
UK and western courts are successfully benefiting from the ‘video conferencing’ facility in order to record statements, take depositions in civil hearings where cross examination is allowed to take place.
In 2010 British High Court allowed 3 Pakistani students and their witnesses to record their statements from Islamabad in a live British ongoing appeal hearing where their ‘evidence’ depends on the ultimate results. Students who earlier had left voluntarily as a protest recorded their statements and won their appeal before ‘special immigration appeals Commission’, a specialist court adjudicating foreign national’s detention on control order(s), and appeal(s) on their entry and exit on national security grounds.
In a current situation where Govt is a stake holder in ‘Memo’ case and is reluctant to offer agreed security, then it’s up to the Courts whether they wish to record his statement by imploring other methods or decide on the basis of available evidence.
If Govt continues to put hurdles that may class as a material breach akin to ‘perverting the course of justice’ and in Pakistani legal directory a contemptuous behaviour duly outlined in Art.204 of the Constitution 1973. In order to address concerns of an individual and conflicts between state institutions leading to a danger to public safety & security, a safer route of ‘video conferencing’ may be an ideal solution to avoid unnecessary ‘clash of institution(s)’.
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Barrister Amjad Malik
Chair APL
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