IHC judges look to create bulwark against meddling

ISLAMABAD: A full court meeting of the Islamabad High Court decided to introduce several measures, including the reactivation of ‘empo­wered’ inspection teams to put an end to the alleged meddling of intelligence officials in judicial affairs.

The meeting, held at the IHC building on Tues­day, was chaired by Chief Justice Aamir Farooq against the backdrop of allegations levelled by six judges of the high court detailing alleged interference in judicial affairs by the operatives of the intelligence agencies. It was not attended by the IHC registrar due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The meeting started at about 2:30pm and continued for over two hours. A statement subsequently issued by the registrar said the judges expressed their views on the matter in a “pleasant manner” and the “unanimous view” of the judges would be submitted to the Supreme Court in the suo motu case.

Senior puisne judge Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Minagul Hassan Aurangzeb, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Jus­tice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejza Ishaq Khan, Justice Arbab Mohammad Tahir and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz attended the meeting.

Sources privy to the meeting told Dawn all the high court judges were unanimous that they would not tolerate interference by any intelligence agency in the proceedings of the high court, district courts, and the special courts. They also chalked out a comprehensive proposal, which would be submitted to the Supreme Court by April 25.

The Supreme Court during the hearing on a suo motu case regarding the judges’ letter had sought proposals from the bar associations and the high courts to counter meddling in judicial affairs.

In order to make the court immune from undue influence, the full court decided to reactivate its ins­pection teams and emp­ower inspection judges to enable them to address the complaints of judicial officers of the subordinate judiciary against any interference and pressure, sources told Dawn.

The judges also decided to give institutional response against any interference attempts in judicial affairs, with some of the participants proposing amendments to the rules related to the constitution of benches. The judges also proposed that the Practice and Procedure Act which regulates the bench of the Supreme Court may be followed by the high court so that power to form benches could be shared among the three senior-most judges. The IHC also agreed to give an “institutional response” in future.

One of the participants dispelled any impression of division among the judges and said that all the judges were unanimous regarding the independence of the judiciary and countering the involvement of the intelligence agencies in judicial affairs at all costs.

According to sources, the judges pointed out ins­tances in which the intelligence agencies’ operatives attempted to manipulate the pending litigation in some high-profile cases.

Due to the full court me­e­ting, the proceedings of the cipher case were adjo­u­rned till Wednesday (today).

Suo motu

The Supreme Court has already initiated suo motu action on the letter written by the six judges of the IHC. In the letter, addre­ssed to members of the Supreme Judicial Council, IHC senior puisne judge Justice Kayani, Justice Jahangiri, Justice Sattar, Justice Khan, Justice Tahir and Justice Imtiaz had pointed at the involvement of intelligence agencies in judicial matters.

They had also supported the demand of former IHC judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui for a probe into the “allegations of interference by ISI operatives aimed at engineering the outcome of judicial proceedings.”

The letter pointed out that five judges of the IHC on Feb 12 wrote to the IHC CJ about interference and illegal surveillance of the intelligence operatives and sought a full court meeting.