ISLAMABAD: Former outspoken judge of the Islamabad High Court, Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, who was sacked three years ago after making inflammatory speeches against Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) officials, recently tested the assurances given by the Chief Justice. have decided to do. Gulzar Ahmed of PakistanJudiciary never takes dictation,
In a two-page application submitted before the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the former judge said the CJP’s recent address gave him a ray of hope that “other factors will not be relevant in the immediate case (appeal against his dismissal), which has been in effect since October 2018. Is suspended”.
Shaukat Aziz was referring to a CJP speech at the Asma Jehangir conference in Lahore on Saturday in which he rejected allegations that any state body had ever pressured the judiciary to deliver decisions of its choice.
In his application, the former judge said his appeal against the dismissal has now turned into “a test case to measure the independence of the judiciary”.
Demand for early hearing on his appeal
Opinion of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and their appeal against the notification dated 11 October 2018 under which it was removed, is still pending before the Supreme Court.
His affidavit, which was read out by his lawyer Hamid Khan during the hearing by a five-judge Supreme Court bench, was returned by the court office. The affidavit mentions the meeting of the former judge with senior intelligence officials.
federal government affidavit rejected On 10 June, his claims about a meeting with Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, former Director General of ISI, were misleading and baseless.
In your July 21, 2018 speech In the District Bar Association of Rawalpindi, Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui even accused some “institutions of the state”, particularly the ISI, of manipulating the composition of benches in the Islamabad High Court.
The application submitted by the former judge on Wednesday is part of a series of petitions in which he has repeatedly sought an early hearing of his case.
The fresh application, filed under Rule 6 of the Supreme Court Rules of 1980, recalled that on June 11 this year, a five-judge bench had said that the matter be re-listed on the availability of the bench before the end of that month. But there was no hearing till now.
Shaukat Siddiqui said that several applications were filed on his behalf for an early hearing, while he also wrote a letter on August 5 to inform the court that the prolonged pendency of the case would cause hardship to him and his family. has been
The letter said that the Supreme Court’s office had proposed three different dates – October 12, November 3 and November 25 – for hearings, but on all three occasions, for “some unknown reasons” the hearings were a few days before the proposed dates. was cancelled.
“The issue is of great public importance as the appeal raised important questions regarding the independence of the judiciary, the rule of law and the supremacy of the Constitution,” the application said.
Since the matter involved several legal, fundamental and constitutional rights, the application highlighted, the petitioner was seeking to appear in the apex court for its earliest determination, before December 1 of the matter in the interest of justice.
Published in Dawn, November 25, 2021