Daily Times

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)’s plea seeking three months to present alternate security plans for the agency’s headquarters near Aabpara, observing that the intelligence agency could not be given liberty to act on their own.

The remarks came when the three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandiyal and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, resumed the hearing of a petition filed by the Ministry of Defence against an Islamabad High Court decision directing authorities to remove barricades in front of the security agency’s HQ.

During the hearing, CJP Mian Saqib Nisar remarked that the intelligence agency was equipped with resources to remove the barricades within a month.

“We cannot give more than four weeks to clear the street. Make a bomb proof wall or shift the headquarters elsewhere,” he remarked.

The top judge stated that the apex court cannot maintain different standards for Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and the general public. The court summoned Director-General Counter Intelligence General Faiz Hamid and adjourned the hearing for later today (Saturday).

On June 22, Islamabad High Court’s Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui had directed the ISI to clear the portion of Khayaban-e-Suharwardy in front of its HQ in a week.

The chief justice said, “We have given the orders against encroachment on public land all over Pakistan and the ISI is not exempted from it,” reported media.

“Call the ISI chief. Why has the road not been opened for public use despite court orders? This road has to be opened because it’s causing trouble for the public,” he asserted.

Published in Daily Times, July 7^th 2018.