<\/p>\n
Former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Tassaduq Hussain Jillani on Monday recused himself from heading a one-man inquiry commission to probe allegations of inte\u00adrference by intelligence agencies in judicial affairs as the Supreme Court took suo motu notice of the matter.<\/p>\n
Last week, it emerged that six Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges \u2014 out of a total strength of eight \u2014 wrote a startling letter<\/a> to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) members, regarding attempts to pressure judges through the abduction and torture of their relatives as well as secret surveillance inside their homes.<\/p>\n The letter was signed by judges Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Arbab Muhammad Tahir and Saman Rafat Imtiaz.<\/p>\n A day later, calls emerged<\/a> from various quarters for a probe into the investigation, amid which CJP Qazi Faez Isa summoned a full court meeting of the SC judges.<\/p>\n On Thursday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met CJP Isa<\/a>, and the two decided to form a commission to investigate the concerns of interference in judicial affairs following the cabinet\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n On Saturday, the federal cabinet approved<\/a> the constitution of an inquiry commission headed by ex-CJP Jillani to probe the allegations and decide whether these are true or otherwise. Under the Terms of Reference (ToR), the inquiry commission would fully probe the allegations levelled by the IHC judges and decide whether these are true or otherwise. It would also investigate whether any personnel of intelligence agencies were directly responsible for interfering in judicial matters.<\/p>\n On Sunday, lawyers and civil society members \u2014 in a joint letter \u2014 had urged<\/a> the top court to take \u201ccognisance of the matter in its jurisdiction under Article 184(3) of the Constitution as this issue eminently relates to public interest and to the enforcement of fundamental rights\u201d.<\/p>\n They had called on the top court to initiate suo motu proceedings as it rejected the \u201cpowerless\u201d one-man commission appointed by the federal cabinet to probe the claims. The letter said the apex court should form a bench of all available judges to hear the matter and proceedings should be telecast live for public consumption. It also urged the court to look into the allegations levelled by retired justice Shaukat Siddiqui, besides the recent claims of meddling in judicial affairs.<\/p>\n In a letter addressed to PM Shehbaz today, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com<\/em>, Jillani thanked the premier and the federal cabinet for reposing confidence in him to head the commission. He also expressed gratitude to CJP Isa and Justice Mansoor Ali Shah for expressing confidence in him.<\/p>\n Jillani said that he had gone through the letter by the IHC judges, the ToRs approved by the federal cabinet and Article 209.<\/p>\n Article 209 of the Constitution empowers the SJC to carry out inquiries into the capacity and conduct of Supreme Court and high court judges.<\/p>\n \u201cSince the letter is addressed to the members of SJC and its chairman the chief justice of Pakistan, it would be violative of judicial propriety for me to inquire into a matter which may fall within the jurisdiction of a constitutional body which is the SJC or the Supreme Court of Pakistan itself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He further said that the ToRs for the inquiry were \u201cstrictly not germane to the subject matter of the letter\u201d, noting that the IHC judges had asked the SJC for guidance.<\/p>\n \u201cTowards the end the request made in the letter is for an \u2018institutional consultation\u2019 in terms of the mechanism suggested in the said letter. Though the letter in question may not strictly fall within the parameters of Article 209 of the Constitution, but the honourable chief justice of Pakistan being a paterfamilias may address and resolve the issues raised in the letter at the institutional level,\u201d he said, adding that he was recusing himself from heading the commission.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the top court took suo motu notice of the allegations levelled by the six IHC judges and constituted a seven-member bench to hear the matter.<\/p>\n According to the roster issued today, the bench will comprise the chief justice, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan \u2014 all available judges on principal seat Islamabad.<\/p>\n The case will be taken up on Wednesday (April 3) at 11:30am.<\/p>\n The development came under discussion in today\u2019s National Assembly session when PTI leader Omar Ayub raised the issue. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar subsequently said the matter was now sub-judice after the apex court\u2019s suo motu notice.<\/p>\n \u201c[Therefore,] this matter should not be subjected to politicking. Any matter that is sub-judice will not be brought up for debate,\u201d Tarar said amid protests from the opposition benches.<\/p>\n Dated March 25, the letter was signed by IHC Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Arbab Muhammad Tahir and Saman Rafat Imtiaz.<\/p>\n It mentioned seven instances of alleged interference and intimidation \u201cto influence the outcome of cases of interest\u201d by the intelligence officials, pointing out that when two out of three judges in the bench hearing the plea to disqualify PTI leader Imran Khan for concealing his alleged daughter opined that the case was not maintainable, they were pressured by \u201coperatives of the ISI\u201d through friends and relatives.<\/p>\n The situation got so stressful that one of the judges had to be admitted to hospital due to high blood pressure, the letter said.<\/p>\n According to the six judges, the matter was brought to the notice of the IHC chief justice and the then-CJP. The former informed the judges that he had \u201cspoken to the DG-C of ISI and had been assured that no official from ISI will approach the judges of the IHC\u201d.<\/p>\n The letter complained that \u201cinterference on the part of intelligence operatives\u201d continued even after IHC CJ\u2019s assurance.<\/p>\n It also referred to the abduction of an IHC judge\u2019s brother-in-law by armed men who claimed to be ISI operatives. The victim was \u201cadministered electric shocks\u201d and \u201cforced to record a video\u201d making false allegations, apparently against the judge.<\/p>\n \u201cSubsequently, a complaint was filed against the judge of IHC before the SJC, accompanied by an orchestrated media campaign to bring pressure to bear upon the judge to resign.\u201d<\/p>\n The letter revealed that in May 2023, an IHC inspection judge reported to the chief justice that district court judges were being intimidated and crackers were thrown into the house of one additional district and sessions judge.<\/p>\n The judge was even called to the IHC to verify the claims which he confirmed. But instead of probing the allegations, the judge \u201cwas made officer on special duty and transferred to IHC, before being sent back to Punjab as he was a judicial officer on deputation\u201d.<\/p>\n The letter said that last year, during routine maintenance, an IHC judge found that his official residence had been bugged with spy cameras concealed in his drawing room and bedroom.<\/p>\n When data from surve\u00adillance equipment was rec\u00adovered, it showed that \u201cpr\u00adi\u00advate videos of the judge and his family members\u201d were stored. \u201cThe matter was brought to the attention of the IHC chief justice. There has been no determination of who installed the equipment and who is to be held accountable,\u201d the letter added.<\/p>\n Along with their letter to the SJC, the six judges also attached copies of letters written to Justice Farooq on May 10, 2023 and Feb 12, 2024.<\/p>\n The letters mentioned, among other complaints, efforts of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) personnel to pressurise IHC judges and probe into the tax records of at least one judge \u201cto seek a certain outcome\u201d.<\/p>\n They added that it was imperative to determine whether there was a \u201cpolicy on the part of the executive \u2026 implemented by intelligence operatives\u201d to intimidate judges.<\/p>\n \u201c[The] allegations of interference by operatives of ISI have been dealt with and relief has been granted to a former judge of IHC who was wronged. We believe that while such action was necessary, it may not be sufficient,\u201d the letter said about Justice Siddiqui\u2019s case.<\/p>\n The judges noted that the SJC\u2019s code of conduct for judges did not outline the response to such incidents \u201cthat are tantamount to intimidation and interfere with judicial independence\u201d.<\/p>\n They called for a judicial convention to discuss the interference of intelligence officials \u201cthat undermines independence of the judiciary\u201d.<\/p>\n The consultation would help the Supreme Court to determine a course of action that judges could take \u201cwhen they find themselves at the receiving end\u201d, the letter said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Tassaduq Hussain Jillani on Monday recused himself from heading a one-man inquiry commission to probe allegations of inte\u00adrference by intelligence agencies in judicial affairs as the Supreme Court took suo motu notice of the matter. Last week, it emerged that six Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges \u2014 out of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":77908,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2024\/04\/011534370f7be75.jpg?r=153444","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}SC takes suo motu notice<\/h2>\n
Contents of letter by IHC judges<\/h2>\n