SHC Bar begs the SC for a monitoring system in an IHC Judges Letter.
The Supreme Court Bar asked for a suitable investigation in a petition on the letter from the justices of the Islamabad High Court (IHC). “The SHC Bar proposed that the government be instructed to create a system of oversight regarding the issue.”
The bar of the highest court has further argued that it should be made sure that no state entity is allowed to go beyond its constitutional authority.
“A fundamental right of the people and a requirement of the constitution is the independence of the judiciary,” argued SHC Bar.
A full bench was previously asked by the legal community to examine the suo moto case involving the letter from the IHC judges, claiming intelligence agency meddling in judicial matters.
Larger bench constituted by Pakistan’s Supreme Court was rejected by the All Pakistan Lawyers Convention, which was held in Lahore. Before the hearing could begin, the attorneys asked that the Supreme Court form a full bench.
It should be noted that, following Justice Yahya Afridi’s recusal from the hearing, the supreme court appointed a new bench to consider a suo motu case pertaining to claims of intelligence agency meddling in matters of justice.
Judge Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhaill, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Musarrat Hilali, and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan will be on the bench, with Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa serving as bench leader.
The IHC judges’ letter, in which they claimed that intelligence agencies were interfering with court proceedings, was received by the Chief Justice on April 1 de novo.
The letter was written to the Supreme Court by judges of the Indian High Court (IHC) including Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir, and Justice Salman Rafat Imtiaz following the court’s decision on March 22 regarding Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui’s dismissal case.
In the correspondence, the highest ranking judges requested direction from the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) concerning a judge’s obligation to “report and respond to actions on part of members of the executive, including operatives of intelligence agencies, that seek to interfere with discharge of his/her official functions and qualify as intimidation.”