Lawyers bodies seek full court to hear claims of interference in judicial matters

ISLAMABAD: Various lawyers’ bodies moved the Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday seeking the constitution of a full court to hear the case of alleged interference in judicial matters by intelligence agencies.

In their petitions, Balochistan Bar Council and Balochistan High Court Bar Association called for the annulment of the one-man commission formed by the government to probe the allegations and seek the apex court’s guidelines to prevent such incidents in the future.

The development comes as a seven-member SC bench is set to resume the hearing on April 29 in the suo motu case on the Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges’ letter to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) complaining of interference in judicial affairs by intelligence agencies. It is to be noted that on March 25, IHC judges including Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir, Justice Tariq Mahmood Jehangiri, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan and Justice Saman Rifat Imtiaz, urged Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa to convene a Judicial Convention to consider the matter of “interference” of intelligence operatives in the judicial functions or intimidation of judges in a manner that undermined the independence of the judiciary.

The bench is headed by CJP Isa and comprises Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.

The court had taken suo motu notice of the judges’ letter under Article 183 (3) of the Constitution after former chief justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani recused himself from heading a one-man commission formed by the government to probe the allegations regarding intelligence agencies’ interference in judicial matters.

Earlier this month, Justice Afridi, who was also part of the SC bench, recused himself from the suo motu case taken up by the top court.Citing his reason for the recusal, the judge maintained that the matters raised in the IHC judges’ letter should be viewed in accordance with the SJC’s code of conduct.

During the first hearing of the case on April 3, CJP Isa remarked that the apex court will not tolerate any interference in judicial affairs and was taking the letter by IHC judges “very seriously”.

The top judge had also hinted that the suo motu case might be heard by a full court in the future. A day earlier, the IHC’s full court meeting “unanimously decided” to give an “institutional response” to any meddling in the court’s affairs.