IHC judges seek SJC meeting over ‘interference’ in judicial affairs
Six serving judges of Islamabad High Court (IHC) penned a letter to Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), urging it to summon a judicial convention to review matter of “interference of intelligence agencies with judicial functions”.
Six IHC top judges – including Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Baqir Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir, and Justice Salman Rafat Imtiaz – penned the letter to SJC in the aftermath of Supreme Court’s March 22 judgement on Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui’s dismissal case.
In the letter, the top judges sought guidance from the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) with regard to the duty of a “judge to report and respond to actions on part of members of the executive, including operatives of intelligence agencies, that seek to interfere with discharge of his/her official functions and qualify as intimidation”.
It pointed out the Supreme Court’s March 22 judgement on Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui’s dismissal case, in which it has been declared that Justice Siddiqui was wrongfully removed on the basis of a SJC report dated 11.10.2018, and would be deemed to have retired as a judge of the IHC. “Justice Siddiqui had been removed after he had publicly alleged that operatives of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), led by Major General Faiz Hameed (DG-C of ISI), were determining the constitution of benches at IHC and interfering with proceedings of the Accountability Court Islamabad,” the letter noted.
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