Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is set to visit the Supreme Court to meet Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa today, republic policy reported, citing sources. This follows the controversy that has arisen after several Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges accused the executive and spy agencies of interfering in judicial matters.
According to government sources, the premier, accompanied by the attorney general and law minister, is expected to visit the apex court at 2 pm. However, the apex court’s sources have contradicted this, stating that they are unaware of any planned meeting between the prime minister and the chief justice.
The recent development stems from a letter penned by six judges of the IHC — Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir, and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz. The letter, addressed to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), calls for a judicial convention to address the alleged interference of executive members, including intelligence agency operatives, in judicial affairs. This letter is a significant step in the ongoing controversy.
The letter further underscored that the code of conduct for judges prescribed by SJC does not guide how they “must react to and or report incidents that are tantamount to intimidation and interfere with judicial independence”.
A day earlier, a full court meeting of the apex court was held in the federal capital to deliberate on the judges’ letter that sought guidance from the SJC “about the duty of a judge to report and respond to actions on the part of members of the executive, including operatives of intelligence agencies, that seek to interfere with the discharge of his/her official functions and qualify as intimidation”.
The two-hour huddle, convened by CJP Isa, took place after the bar associations of Sindh, Lahore, Islamabad, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as well as senior lawyers, demanded a probe into the letter, which arguably might have serious consequences for the country’s judiciary.
Separately, a plea has also been filed in the apex court seeking an open court investigation of the IHC judges’ letter. This conflicting information adds to the intrigue surrounding the event, as reported by Geo News.
