SC issues written order of Faizabad review case

Islamabad: The Supreme Court Monday issued a written order for the hearing of the Faizabad sit-in review case held on September 28.

According to details, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa wrote the judgment of the case which consists of four pages.

The court order said that giving all the parties another chance to present the facts related to the Faizabad sit-in, the parties can submit the facts related to the case through affidavits.

It is stated by the court order that the written responses in the case should be submitted by October 27 and the case will be again heard on November 01.

According to the court order, the Attorney General said: “The Ministry of Defense does not want any further action on its revision petition. Intelligence Bureau (IB), Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) also requested to withdraw the revision petitions through a separate petition while the petitioner Sheikh Rashid asked for a new counsel”.

Requested for more time, petitioner Ijaz-ul-Haq objected to paragraph no. 04 of the judgment and four questions related to the case were raised during the hearing, the petition added.

The order further said that in the absence of some petitioners, they are given another chance. This position under paragraph 17 of Faizabad Dharna case judgment is surprising for the court.

According to the order, the court stated in Faizabad sit-in case that any aggrieved party can come forward and submit its position in writing. Attorney General said that Faizabad sit-in was for a limited time and its jurisdiction should not be widened.

Case details

It is pertinent to note that Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) staged a sit-in for 22 days at Faizabad in Islamabad in November 2017 for changing the words of the affidavit in the Constitutional Amendment Election Bill 2017. An operation was also conducted against, after which the dharna ended after an agreement. The then law minister Zahid Hamid had to resign from the post after the demand of the protesters. The total expenditure of the Islamabad police in this dharna was Rs195.5 million crores.

While the vandalism and closure of the metro station caused a loss of 66.6 million rupees to the national exchequer, after which the Supreme Court took suo motu notice of the matter.

A two-member bench headed by then Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Mushir Alam heard the case and issued a 43-page judgment.

The judgment said that the state should be impartial and fair, the law should apply to all, whether they are in the government or institutions, should act freely.

Supreme Court had said in its order that no agency or agency of the government should exceed its mandate. No agency has the authority to restrict freedom of expression, interfere in TV broadcasting, newspaper publication.

Justice Qazi Faez had also given observations against PTI and Mutahidda Qoumi Movement (MQM) in Faizabad dharna case judgment, saying that by not taking action against the perpetrators of the May 12 tragedy, the agenda through violence was not taken.

A bad example has been set by not taking action against the government officials involved in the murders and the pursuit of an agenda through violence was encouraged.

The aggrieved parties filed revision petitions against the judgment on April 15, 2019.

It should be remembered that after the decision of Faizabad sit-in case, a reference was also filed against Justice Qazi Faez Isa.