By The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday took suo motu notice of a letter penned by six judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), highlighting concerns about the interference of intelligence agencies in judicial affairs.
All available judges at the Islamabad principal registry will convene to hear the petition on Wednesday at 11:30 AM.
A seven-judge larger bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa, along with Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Musarrat Hilali, and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, will preside over the case.
The initiative for the suo motu notice was proposed by CJP Isa, who serves as the chairman of the committee. Committee members Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar endorsed his proposal.
This action follows the recent appointment of former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, as the head of an inquiry commission tasked with investigating allegations of intelligence agencies meddling in the IHC’s affairs.
The decision to establish the inquiry body and appoint Jillani as its head was made during a federal cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
On March 27, six IHC judges – Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Arbab Muhammad Tahir, and Saman Rafat Imtiaz – addressed a letter to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) expressing their concerns regarding alleged interference by intelligence agencies in court matters.
Responding to increasing demands for an inquiry, CJP Isa convened a full court meeting of top court judges the following day.
During a meeting between PM Shehbaz and CJP Isa on March 28, it was agreed to establish a commission following the cabinet’s approval to investigate the concerns raised by the IHC judges.
In its meeting on March 30, the federal cabinet discussed the allegations raised by the IHC judges and finalized the Terms of Reference (TORs) for the inquiry commission.
According to the TORs, the commission will comprehensively investigate the allegations outlined in the letter by the IHC judges and ascertain their validity. It will also examine whether any officials were directly involved in the alleged interference in judicial matters.
