As the Supreme Court (SC) started hearing the suo motu case on intelligence agencies’ meddling in judicial proceedings on Monday, Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa said that any party pressuring the court towards a certain route is also tantamount to interference.
Hearing the case is the six-member bench led by Chief Justice Isa, which also includes Justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Yahya Afridi, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Athar Minallah, Musarrat Hilali, and Naeem Akhtar Afghan. Live coverage of the proceedings is available.
Six justices of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) sent a letter, which the supreme court previously noted on its own initiative.
The judges of the International Humanitarian Court (IHC) accused the nation’s intelligence services of pressuring judges by kidnapping and torturing their families and by secretly monitoring them in their homes, according to a shocking letter they sent to the members of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).
The letter also questioned if the state police were used to “intimidate” and pressure judges. It was sent to Chief Justice Isa of the Peshawar High Court, Chief Justices of the IHC, and Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Munib Akhtar of the Supreme Court.
Judges Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Arbab Muhammad Tahir, and Saman Rafat Imtiaz of the IHC all signed the letter, which was dated March 25.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan issued its suo motu when Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, a former chief judge of Pakistan, resigned from leading a one-man probe body that the government had established to look into the allegations.
The events transpired subsequent to a consortium of attorneys and representatives of civil society advocating for the commencement of suo motu proceedings by the apex court, following the dismissal of the “powerless” one-man panel.
They appealed to the highest court to grant them “cognisance of the matter in its jurisdiction under Article 184(3) of the Constitution as this issue eminently relates to the enforcement of fundamental rights” in a letter.
It has been discovered that the chief judge, who chairs the committee, proposed taking the suo motu notice, a suggestion that was supported by Justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Munib Akhtar.
Jillani wrote to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on April 1st, stating that it would be against judicial propriety for him to investigate a matter that might be under the purview of the Supreme Judicial Council or the Supreme Court of Pakistan itself, as the letter was addressed to the members of the body and its chairman, the chief justice of Pakistan.
The retired judge expressed gratitude to the premier and cabinet for their confidence in him to lead the panel and clarified that the grounds of the inquiry’s reference are not “strictly” related to the topic at hand.
Justice (retd) Jillani went on to say that the letter’s request is for a “institutional consultation,” with the conditions of the recommended procedure included. The letter might not quite fall under the purview of Article 209 of the Constitution, he continued.
“I withdraw from leadership of the commission and continue the investigation for the previously mentioned reasons.”
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