Pakistan's Supreme Judicial Council accused of acting under intelligence agency's influence
Dec 09, 2021
Islamabad, [Pakistan] December 9 : Pakistan's Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) which had recommended the removal of the Pakistan judge from the office has been accused of acting under the influence of the country's key intelligence agency.
Pakistan's senior lawyer Hamid Khan representing the former judge of the Islamabad High Court Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui has accused the SJC of acting under the intelligence agency's influence, according to the Dawn.
Further, the Supreme Judicial Council of Pakistan is a body of judges empowered under Article 209 of the constitution of Pakistan to hear cases of misconduct against its judges.
Meanwhile, Hamid Khan however tried to establish that his client had been facing a number of complaints.
Also, Hamid Khan's assertion did not go down well with the five-judge Supreme Court bench that had taken up Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui's appeal against the opinion of the SJC and the Oct 11, 2018 notification.
Under the above notification, Shaukat Aziz was removed as superior court judge for his July 21, 2018 speech at the Rawalpindi's District Bar Association, according to the Dawn.
In his speech, Shaukat Aziz had made remarks about the involvement of certain officers of the executive organ of the State, specifically the Inter-Services Intelligence, in judicial affairs to allegedly manipulate the formation of the benches of the High Court, according to the Dawn.
Earlier on Nov 27, 2018, the former judge Shaukat Aziz faced another reference on the complaints about bringing the institution of the army into disrepute for his order issued in the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) dharna case.
In the dharna case order the Shaukat Aziz had referred to an agreement reached between an army official and the TLP, which had blocked the Faizabad junction, and had regretted that armed forces had no business bringing a compromise over the TLP dharna, according to the Dawn.
Further, in his speech, he had observed that the top leadership of the armed forces went beyond its constitutional domain thus putting the dignity of Pakistan's army at stake.
