Daily Times

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Monday sought the Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan’s assistance on maintainability of a petition seeking to establish a commission to investigate the alleged audio tape linked with ex-chief justice Saqib Nisar.

Chief Justice IHC Justice Athar Minallah heard the plea filed by President Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHBA) Salahuddin Ahmed and Syed Haider Imam Rizvi on the issue.

The petitioners stated that the alleged audio tape had damaged the reputation of the judiciary and it was necessary to fix whether the audio content was fake or true. An independent commission should be established to probe it transparently so that public trust in judiciary could be strengthened, the petition added. The petition prayed the court to set up a commission comprising retired judges, lawyers, journalists and members from civil society.

The chief justice asked the lawyers how the plea was admissible. He observed that the said audio tape was of the time when Saqib Nisar was chief justice. Justice Minallah remarked that the judiciary had been facing big challenges and the bars had played an important role for independence of the judiciary. “We are living in a society where social media is operating without regulations.” he remarked.

Justice Minallah remarked that the judiciary could not play into the hands of those whose intentions are to build political narratives through audio tapes leaked on the social media. “Who has the capability to record the chief justice of Pakistan? Did that person release it or someone sitting in America?”

The petitioner said, the matter went viral on the social media and was continuously being discussed. The chief justice remarked that there were many things being discussed on the social media and the court would not inquire into everything.

“The court has to view things only under the law,” he said.

The lawyer said the SHCBA had passed a resolution and prayed the court to also serve a notice to it if considered appropriate. The chief justice said he respected the bar association for the sake of rule of law in the country. The alleged audio tape was related to appeals which were pending with the IHC, he said, adding that the people concerned didn’t express interest in coming to the court. The court said the political parties used to adopt different stances but didn’t come to court. In this situation, the court also had to view the intentions, he added.

The court remarked, who had released the audio tape and what was its motive. Whether we should play at their tunes, he questioned.

The lawyer said this was the issue that the affected party didn’t come to the court for relief.

The court sought assistance from attorney general for Pakistan and adjourned the plea till December 8. Meanwhile, the ex-chief judge of Gilgit Baltistan Rana Shamim didn’t submit answer to the IHC in response to the contempt of court show cause notice in the controversial affidavit case.

In the leaked audio clip, an unidentified individual, allegedly Nisar, can be heard speaking of a collusion to punish Sharif and Mariam in order to bring their political rival Imran Khan into power. The former top judge had termed the audio fabricated.

Missing journalist: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Monday summoned Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari and secretary interior with directions to appear in person on the next hearing in a case pertaining to disappearance of a journalist and blogger Muddasir Naro.

Chief Justice Athar Minallah expressed annoyance with the additional attorney general for not telling the date of meeting of victim family with the prime minister, reports APP.

The chief justice remarked that the reaction of the state would have been different if a person belonging to elite class had gone missing.

This court had only given orders for arranging a meeting of the victim family with the federal cabinet and prime minister. It is a serious crime that a citizen has gone missing, he said.

The court adjourned hearing with above instructions till December 1.