SC moved to take suo motu of Justice Siddiqui’s Rawalpindi speech

LAHORE: A petition submitted at the Supreme Court’s Lahore Registry has requested Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar to take suo motu of Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui’s speech alleging that state institutions were meddling in judicial affairs.

The petitioner alleged that Justice Siddiqui is close to Irfan Siddiqui, who is a close associate of deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif and the judge has passed anti-judiciary remarks.

The judge has lost the right to retain his position and his speech implied that he wanted to hear the petitions submitted by members of the Sharif family after the Avenfield verdict, further added the petition.

It also alleged that the IHC judge betrayed national interests and his oath in the process. The petitioner concludes requesting for an investigation to be lodged into the sitting judge who is already facing proceedings initiated by the Supreme Judicial Council.

In his speech, Justice Siddiqui had claimed that members of a security agency had approached the IHC chief justice seeking assurances that Nawaz, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar would remain behind bars till July 25.

On Sunday, the CJP took notice of Justice Siddiqui’s speech accusing the country’s premier intelligence agency of manipulating judicial proceedings.

While hearing cases at the Supreme Court’s Karachi Registry, Justice Nisar remarked that he was deeply saddened by the IHC judge’s comments. Siddiqui made the remarks at an event hosted by the Rawalpindi Bar Association on Saturday.

The top judge has called for the complete record of Justice Siddiqui’s speech from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra). Asserting that the judiciary was under no pressure, the Justice Nisar said judges have complete faith in the supremacy of law and worked in accordance with the Constitution.

Also on Sunday, the Pakistan Army requested the country’s top court to initiate the appropriate process to ascertain the veracity of the allegations levelled by Justice Siddiqui.

A statement issued by the military’s media wing said that a judge of the IHC had levelled serious allegations against state institutions including the judiciary and intelligence agency.

Source: Express Tribune