IHC Judges letter: CJP calls full court meeting

Islamabad: The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa called a full court meeting on the issue of the letter of the judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa has called a full court meeting following the letter of six judges of Islamabad High Court regarding interference of secret agenciesin judicial matters

CJP Qazi also consulted Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Mansoor Usman Awan in this regard, after which a full court meeting has been called.

The full court meeting headed by the Chief Justice will be held shortly.

On the other hand, in a conversation with journalists, the Attorney General said: "The issue of the judges' letter is serious and should be investigated".

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.