ISLAMABAD: Justice Faez Isa on Wednesday told a 10-member bench of the Supreme Court that his fight is not for his “vanity” or “ego”, but for the dignity and prestige of entire judiciary.
“I am concerned about this institution [SC] and all of you. If a judge is corrupt, throw him out, but if there is nothing then no one should have a right to raise finger at him,” he told the bench members.
The larger bench, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial comprising Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed and Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan has been hearing Justice Faez Isa’s application for live screening of his review petition against the Supreme Court judgment on Presidential Reference.
“Files of all of you are also ready, I’m 62-year-old and three more years of service doesn’t matter to me. If I resign then I will get pension, but if I am removed I will get no pension. I am standing here for you [judges] that nobody tomorrow ask you to stand in front of a firing squad,” Justice Isa argued before the larger bench.
He stated that he had filed an application for live broadcast so that he is not only vindicated by the Supreme Court but also by the ‘public court’, adding that “for the last two years I and my family were defamed on the TV channels.”
Justice Umar Ata Bandial asked the judge: “Don’t be so negative in your approach.” Justice Isa replied that he had approached the court for truth, adding that he would speak truth whether someone likes it or not and that he is not afraid of the consequences.
Justice Bandial said the Court’s purpose was to hear the review petition, “but now you are going in other direction. Now you are saying what the government said about you. We have to act according to the law and not going to judge what they [the government] say.”
Justice Isa said the President [Dr Arif Alvi] forgot that he is no more a PTI worker but the head of State and represents all the citizens.
He said after the Supreme Court judgement on a reference against him “everyone from top level [the President of Pakistan] to the FBR [Federal Board of Revenue] is maligning me and my family.”
Justice Bandial told Justice Isa: "what the President said you are interpreting in your own way and drawing its meaning, while the media drew its meaning according their own interest".
About the evidence of conspiracy against him, Justice submitted that the bench noticed in the judgment that there was no evidence before Court that the conspiracy was hatched against him. The judge said he had filed the evidence in a booklet and hoped that the bench members would read it.
Justice Isa said that no action was taken against Iftikhar ud Din, who had threatened him in a video, which went viral on social media. The FIR against Iftikhar was registered after five days, he added. The judge submitted that propaganda was launched against him and his family on Youtube. “I can’t make Youtube account therefore I am before the Court,” he said. He told the court that he has no Twitter account but there exist three twitter accounts with his name and picture, adding that he has reported it to the FIA, but nothing happened.
Justice Isa told the bench that he was misquoted on the social media about his remark ‘taking Pakistan to gutter’. He complained that the media does not publish his response therefore he wanted live broadcast of the proceedings of his review petition.
Sarina Isa, the wife of Justice Faez, submitted that federal law minister Farogh Naseem had repeatedly “misused” his office to advance his political agenda. He held “secret” meetings with Adviser to prime minister Mirza Shehzad Akbar to target a judge.
She stated that Shahzad Akbar started work in 2004 at a monthly salary of Rs 35,000. She added: “I started working at the Karachi American School as a full-time teacher in 1982 that is 22 years before he got his first job in NAB; comparably his salary was less than mine. Now he is a rich man. He does not explain his astronomical rise in untaxed wealth.
“Mirza Shahzad Akbar got FBR’s Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed into his illegal ARU and made a government officer to do his political bidding and in return arranged to hand over to him the reins of FBR. Why do these gentlemen now oppose live broadcast? Does the truth terrify these gentlemen? They simply want to obstruct the truth and the course of justice. If I lie then I am prepared to be publicly humiliated by the truth, but please do not deprive me of opportunity of being publicly exonerated.”
At the outset of the hearing, Additional Attorney General (AAG) Amir Rehman opposed the live streaming of court proceedings. He contended that the court proceedings are “highly technical”. According to him, the jargons used by lawyers and judges in court are not easily understandable to an ordinary citizen.
“The questions raised by judges will confuse the general public instead of educating them,” he said and added the journalists who cover court proceedings are well-versed with technical jargons and the atmosphere of the court. “They [journalists] present proceedings to public in a way which is easily understandable to even an ordinary viewer, therefore there is no need of live broadcast.
The AAG stated: “Judges are not public figures. Unwanted public gaze will draw a different public opinion about them.”
The case was adjourned till today.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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