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- April 30, 2024
- Kainat Shakeel
- 0
Judge Athar Minallah stated on Tuesday that the nation’s judges and the judiciary’s independence needed to be safeguarded by the state. He said this as a six-member panel of the Supreme Court (SC) began deliberating on a case concerning claims made by six judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) about meddling in court proceedings by the nation’s security establishment. The bench was composed of Justices Minallah, Mansoor Ali Shah, Jamal Khan Mandakhail, Musarrat Hilali, and Naeem Akhtar Afghan, and was led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa. The SC’s YouTube account and website both provided live streaming of the proceedings.
The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) received a shocking letter in late March from six of the eight IHC judges. The letter detailed attempts to intimidate judges by kidnapping and torturing their relatives and by secretly spying on them at home. Judges Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Arbab Muhammad Tahir, Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, and Saman Rafat Imtiaz all signed the letter. A full court conference of the Supreme Court judges was called by CJP Isa in response to appeals that had surfaced from different quarters for an investigation into the case. The formation of an inquiry commission was decided upon in a meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and CJP Isa. The federal cabinet then gave its approval.
The one-man inquiry commission’s leader, former CJP Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, resigned from his position and urged Justice Isa to “resolve the issues raised in the letter at the institutional level.” The matter was also taken on by the Supreme Court on a suo motu basis. One of the seven judges who presided over the previous hearing, Justice Yahya Afridi, had withdrawn from the case. A full court hearing of the case was alluded to by CJP Isa during the last hearing, whereby she declared that “any attack” on the judiciary’s independence would not be permitted.
In addition to the suo motu, the SC has accepted more than ten petitions and applications asking for its intervention that were submitted collectively by many bar associations. Mansoor Usman Awan, the Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP), made his appearance before the Supreme Court today. By the next hearing on May 7, the SC directed the petitioners, the bar councils, and associations, to respond. The SC further stated that a unanimous decision would be acceptable. It further stated that if the federal government so desired, it might send its proposals or answers through the AGP. If the accusations “refer to any [intelligence] agency, the said agency should respond” through the AGP, according to CJP Isa.