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- May 6, 2024
- Kainat Shakeel
- 0
On Monday, the Supreme Court reopened its hearing on review petitions brought against its 2019 ruling on the Faizabad sit-in, during which the Chief Justice voiced his displeasure with the inquiry commission’s report. The hearing, which was also aired on the Supreme Court’s YouTube page, was resumed by a three-judge panel led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa and consisting of Justices Irfan Saadat Khan and Naeem Akhtar Awan. In today’s proceedings, CJP Isa questioned the attorney general about his review of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) report. In the negative, the AGP responded. The chief judge then asked for a halt in the proceedings and instructed the AGP to review the ECP report.
Justice Isa was shocked by what he saw in the report when he was allowed to resume. The attorney general stated in his statement that Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was not tasked with looking into terrorists’ financial support; rather, Gen (retd) Faiz Hameed had told the commission as much. “If not theirs, then whose responsibility is it?” Justice Isa posed the question. In addition, he cast doubt on the report’s caliber and questioned the other panel members’ absence. Justice Isa emphasized remarks that contradicted one another during the report’s examination. A piece denied that ISI was at fault, while another said there was no proof that Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) received funding.
Justice Isa urged the AGP to consider the enormous damage that the country suffered as a result of the violent Faizabad sit-in, denouncing the employee method. In the 2019 Faizabad Dharna ruling, Justice Isa said unequivocally that it is against the Constitution for members of the armed forces to participate in any political activities, including endorsing a political party, faction, or individual. “The government of Pakistan through the ministry of defense and the respective chiefs of the army, the navy, and the air force are directed to initiate action against the personnel under their command who are found to have violated their oath,” said the 43-page ruling authored by incumbent CJP Isa.
No one, including any government department or intelligence agency, could restrict the fundamental right to freedom of speech, expression, and the press beyond the bounds specified in Article 19 of the Constitution, according to the ruling rendered by Chief Justice Isa in the Faizabad Dharna case. According to his ruling, individuals who employed such approaches with the false impression that they were pursuing a more important objective were delusional. “The Constitution governs Pakistan…Every citizen, wherever he may be, and every other person temporarily residing in Pakistan have an inviolable obligation to obey the Constitution and the law,” he noted in his ruling.