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- April 23, 2024
- Kainat Shakeel
- 0
ISLAMABAD: On Tuesday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) will hold a full court session to discuss and ultimately decide upon ideas that would be submitted to the Supreme Court in a case involving the purported interference in judicial matters by intelligence agency officials. Remarkably, the complaint in this case before the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) is six of the eight IHC judges who will assess the situation and make recommendations. The IHC registrar’s office distributed a notice to all eight judges stating that the meeting will take place on April 23 at 2:30 p.m.
Six out of the eight IHC judges had written to the Supreme Court, asking for a suo motu proceeding against the alleged interfering in judicial affairs. The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), high courts, and the federal government are the primary parties involved in the legal system and the independence of the judiciary. The SC requested submissions from these parties in its decision of April 3. To ensure that issues similar to those mentioned in the letter [of IHC judges] do not develop in the future and, if they do, to determine liability and take appropriate action against those responsible, the decision instructed that “they should suggest what should be the institutional response and mechanism to address the issues.”
According to reports, the IHC registrar’s office sent the apex court decision to the judges and requested their final recommendation by the deadline, as the apex court had requested the suggestion by April 25. After that, a combined report will be submitted to the SC by the IHC administration. Originally, a hearing on the suo motu proceedings had been held before a bigger seven-member SC bench. That being said, Justice Yahya Afridi declined to consider this matter, citing concerns that it would interfere with the independence of higher courts and potentially impact the chief justice and justices in their performance of their duties.
Justice Afridi emphasized, “To proceed on the proposed action of suo motu would negate the lessons moved into action by public sentiments no matter how pressing the issue may appear.” She also pointed out that, according to the Constitution, the high courts were independent establishments whose duties included regulating their administrative functions and providing security for and protecting judicial officers in performing their duties. Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Arbab Mohammad Tahir, and Saman Rafat Imtiaz also made references to the suspected involvement of ISI in court cases in their letter.