Pakistan: Imran Khan writes letter to Chief Justice Isa demanding punishment for subverters of constitution

Islamabad [Pakistan], April 21 : Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan wrote a letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa on Saturday, demanding punishment for those who have subverted the Constitution in matters related to allegations by six Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges about interference in judicial affairs by the country's intelligence apparatus, Pakistan-based Dawn reported.
The development comes after six Islamabad High Court judges made allegations against interference in judicial affairs by Pakistan's intelligence apparatus.
On March 25, six IHC judges wrote a letter to Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) members, regarding attempts to pressurise judges through abduction, torture of their family members, and secret surveillance in their homes.
Judges Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Arbab Muhammad Tahir and Saman Rafat Imtiaz had signed the letter, according to Dawn report.
In the letter, Imran Khan called it "ironical" that those who were supposed to and duty-bound to provide justice were themselves seeking it. He stated that the IHC judges' demand for a judicial convention to look into the matter would have "exposed the scale of this meddling and demonstrated the extent to which, institutionally, those armed with weapons continue to overpower those armed with the pen."
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan said the actions taken by the Supreme Court so far were "meek and indecisive." He stressed that the situation required "strict action on part of the SC towards speedily setting the system right" to help all high courts and lower courts.
Imran Khan stated, "This calls for assembling and putting in place a robust mechanism of enforcement and accountability that resurrects the judiciary's independence. And this calls for punishing those who have subverted the Constitution by unconstitutional means, as aforesaid."
"Failing that, the people's confidence in the justice system of Pakistan, which is undergoing significant erosion already, will stand dismantled and demolished," he added.
Imran Khan said that the rule of law and the supremacy of the Constitution had fallen to a "new low" in Pakistan, leading to the "gradual emergence of the law of the jungle and the enactment of the primitive doctrine that might is right."
He warned that if the "situation were to prevail, it would be fatal to any civilised order in the world," particularly if the superior judiciary did not "meaningfully intervene." In his letter, Imran Khan raised seven issues and said that these circumstances required "prompt intervention," according to the Dawn report.
Slamming the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for giving clean chit to Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif in the Toshakhana vehicle case, Imran Khan said that the anti-corruption agency was "making a mockery of our justice system" by proposing the former prime minister's exoneration despite it having previously been pursued as an "open and shut case."
He demanded a thorough investigation into Lt-Gen (retd) Nazir Ahmed Butt's conduct as NAB chairman for the "dishonesty, discrimination, and double standards employed by NAB," Dawn reported.
The PTI founder said that he believed that more than 90 per cent of the people who were arrested for the incidents of violence, arson and looting related to May 9 protests were "peaceful and unarmed protesters who did not indulge in any violence whatsoever."
Imran Khan said a constitutional petition that demanded an independent, transparent, and thorough probe to ascertain the inciters and perpetrators of the May 9 violence, and those who allowed it to escalate, was pending in the Supreme Court since May 25, 2023. He stated that the case must be taken up and decided on a priority basis in the interest of "complete justice."
Speaking about the alleged rigging in the general elections held on February 8, Imran Khan stated that the apex court should take up the petitions on how the polls were conducted on a priority basis and take a decision on them, Dawn reported.
In the letter, Imran Khan stated, "Inaction on your part and that of the SC in the face of each of the aforementioned matters of grave importance would exacerbate the constitutional crisis the country is already facing and push it closer and closer to the abyss."