DNA

Islamabad: A full court meeting was held under the chairmanship of Chief Justice Amir Farooq to give suggestions to the Supreme Court on the issue of the letter written by 6 judges of the Islamabad High Court to the Supreme Judicial Council regarding the interference of the executive in the affairs of the judiciary.

Sources said that in the meeting, the proposals of all the judges of the High Court, the two district and session judges of East and West of the federal capital were considered.

The full court session headed by Chief Justice Islamabad High Court Justice Aamir Farooq continued for two and a half hours, in which 8 judges including 6 judges who wrote letters to the Supreme Judicial Council participated.

Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Aamir Farooq, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb, Justice Tariq Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir and Justice Taman Rifat Imtiaz attended the meeting.

Similarly, Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb, who did not sign the letter, also attended the meeting.

After hearing the Supreme Court’s suo moto notice, the suggestions received from all the judges were considered in the meeting held for the suggestions requested from the High Court.

According to the sources, the Islamabad High Court has unanimously decided to give an institutional response to any interference in the judiciary.

The Islamabad High Court unanimously decided to send all the proposals to the Supreme Court, no disagreement was raised on the proposal of any judge in the full court, the draft of the proposals will be prepared and sent to the Supreme Court before the scheduled date.

It should be noted that in the light of the Supreme Court orders, the High Court judges have already submitted their proposals.

Last month, six IHC judges addressed a letter to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), highlighting alleged interference by agencies in judicial affairs, including attempts to pressure judges and conduct secret surveillance in their homes.

Dated March 25, the letter, signed by IHC Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Arbab Muhammad Tahir, and Saman Rafat Imtiaz, outlined seven instances of such alleged interference and intimidation by intelligence officials.

The open letter, copies of which were distributed to all apex court judges, suggested the possibility of a judicial convention to discuss the interference of intelligence operatives with judicial functions and the intimidation of judges, which undermines judicial independence.

In response, the Supreme Court initiated suo motu proceedings based on the letter, soliciting input from all high court judges on the matter.

Following the Supreme Court’s directive, the IHC chief justice requested suggestions from the judges by Monday.