On Wednesday, Pakistan’s Chief Justice (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa stressed that any infringements on judicial autonomy would be securely withstood, suggesting the possibility of assembling a complete court for a suo motu case on supposed invasions into judicial procedures.
CJP Isa included that just 7 judges were offered in Islamabad today, the rest are either in Lahore or Karachi. “We might have a complete court on the next hearing”, he stated while concluding the hearing today.
His remarks came throughout a Supreme Court session analyzing claims by 6 judges from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) of excessive impact applied by the nationwide security forces on judicial operations.
The hearing was performed by a seven-judge bench, led by CJP Qazi Faez Isa and consisting of justices Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Yahya Afridi, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Athar Minallah, Musarrat Hilali, and Naeem Akhtar Afghan, and was transmitted live on the Supreme Court’s site and YouTube channel.
Just recently, a letter to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) from 6 of the 8 IHC judges highlighted supposed pressures on the judiciary, consisting of household kidnappings, abuse, and concealed home monitoring.
Signatories of the letter were judges Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Arbab Muhammad Tahir, and Saman Rafat Imtiaz.
Following the letter’s discoveries, there were extensive require a questions, leading CJP Isa to assemble a complete court session of the Supreme Court judges.
Consequently, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and CJP Isa accepted develop a query commission, getting federal cabinet recommendation.
A cumulative demand from lawyers and civil society advised the Supreme Court to deal with the problem under its constitutional powers, highlighting its significance to public interest and essential rights enforcement.
Previous CJP Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, at first selected to lead the questions, stepped down, encouraging Justice Isa to internally deal with the issues raised, triggering the Supreme Court to start suo motu action and form a seven-member panel for the case.
Lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan and the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) just recently sent petitions to take part in the suo motu procedures.
Throughout the session, Attorney General Mansoor Usman Awan and Hamid Khan, representing previous Prime Minister Imran Khan, appeared, with Ahmed Hussain promoting for Aitzaz.
The procedures are set to continue April 29, with CJP Isa meaning the development of a complete court for day-to-day hearings in the subsequent session.