IHC Judges letter: Petition in SC to form inquiry commission

Islamabad: A constitutional petition has been filed in the Supreme Court for an open court inquiry into the letter written by six judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).

According to the details, the constitutional petition was filed by Mian Dawood Advocate in the Supreme Court.

The petitioner has taken the position that the letter from the judges of the IHC to the judges of the Supreme Court seems to be a premeditated plan. It seems that following the instructions of PTI, the judges of IHC have written a letter. The approach of judges to the SJC against the interference of the Intelligence Agencies in the judicial proceedings has made the whole matter suspicious.

Petitioner Mian Dawood Advocate said in the application that this is a constitutional point even a common person associated with the justice system knows that the SJC is not an institution to investigate such disputes, yet the judges of the High Court wrote a letter to it which is equivalent to making the judiciary controversial.

According to the petition filed, the six judges presented only one example of Imran Khan's case in their letter. Apart from his case, the judges did not give a clear reference and proof of a single case in the letter. Equally misleading, is the fact that PTI and Imran Khan have received exceptional relief from the Islamabad High Court in most cases.

Mian Dawood Advocate took the position that the IHC gave an unusual decision not to arrest Imran Khan in any case. IHC allowed Imran Khan to run a political campaign while sitting in jail. Following the decisions of IHC, Adiala Jail was converted into a luxurious residence for Imran Khan. Despite all the decision in the favor of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, it is absurd to accuse Intelligence Agencies of interference.

It further said that there are instances of extraordinary relief to Imran Khan and PTI in several cases of Peshawar High Court (PHC) and Lahore High Court (LHC), it is as if the crime they are committing is being blamed by others. On the letter of the judges of IHC, PTI immediately responded that this is their position, the public got the impression from the letter of the judges that the entire country's judiciary, including the Supreme Court is being run by the Intelligence Agencies.

According to the application, if Agencies’ intervention is accepted, then has there been interference in the decisions in favor of PTI and Imran or only in the decisions against them? PTI has made several attempts of no-confidence against the Chief Justice of IHC and the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP).

It is pertinent to note that yesterday six judges of IHC wrote a letter to the SJC regarding the alleged interference and pressure of intelligence agencies in the work of judges.

It was written by Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir and Justice Saman Rift Imtiaz of IHC.

The letter stated that we as judges of IHC seek guidance from the Supreme Judicial Council regarding the interference of executive members including secret agencies in the work of judges and putting judges under pressure.

This matter came up as a result of the decision of the Supreme Court in which the dismissal of Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui by the Supreme Court in the year 2018 was declared invalid and illegal and said that Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui will be considered retired, added the letter.

The letter continued to say that while the existing Code of Conduct for Judges is unable to guide how judges should respond to undermining of judicial independence by intelligence agents, we believe that this is very important to investigate whether the policy of interference in the work of the judiciary by the state is still being implemented by the intelligence agencies.

In the letter written by the judges, the incidents of threats faced by the secret agencies to the judiciary of Islamabad have also been mentioned.