Suo motu on letter by six IHC judges: PTI rejects CJP-led seven-judge larger bench

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) openly rejected the seven-judge larger bench of judges headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa to hear a suo motu case with regard to a letter by six judges of Islamabad High Court (IHC), involving spy agencies’ interference in judicial matters.

Speaking at a presser here, the PTI spokesman Raoof Hasan along with former chief minister Khalid Khurshid, said it point blank: the seven-judge SC bench is not acceptable and a full court bench should be constituted.

He also demanded that the matter should be heard by the full court and the proceeding should be televised live.

He said that the party would not accept any such bench comprising the “likeminded” judges handpicked by Chief Justice Isa, to hear an all-important case, which needs to be addressed on war footing.

“We want a full court comprising all the judges of the apex court to be formed. The chief justice is quite fond of a live broadcast of the cases, and I’m sure he will also allow live broadcast of the proceedings of this important case, as it’s the need of the hour,” he maintained.

He demanded that the matter should be investigated through full court and the court proceeding should be live telecasted, adding that a judicial conference should also be convened where all judges should be allowed to tell their stories.

Hasan went on to say that it would be a travesty of law to task a person to form a commission to probe the matter in which he was a nominated accused, as the premier showed his intent during his meeting with former chief justice Tassaduq Hussain Jilani as the former wanted a decision of his choice.

He noted that Jilani was a credible person and he took the right decision to recuse himself from heading a one-man inquiry commission to probe the interference by intelligence agencies in judicial affairs.

He said that Jilani stated in the letter “since 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.” He said that Jilani endorsed the PTI legal team’s stance as it also advocated for investigating the matter through a full court.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024