ISLAMABAD: Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, a senior puisne judge of the Islamabad High Court, has said that he is being treated as an accused person rather than as a complainant who has pointed out ‘interference’ of a few individuals in judicial affairs.

During the hearing of a case related to the construction of a multi-storey building in F-8 Markaz, Islamabad, on Monday, Justice Siddiqui remarked that his complaint was being projected as a crime.

The judge was responding to the arguments of a petitioner who praised Justice Siddiqui for raising his voice against the ‘interference’ in the affairs of the judiciary.

In his address at an event of the District Bar Association Rawalpindi on July 21, Justice Siddiqui had alleged that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was manipulating judicial proceedings. He also alleged that ISI officials managed to constitute benches of their ‘choice’ and get cases marked for selected judges.

A day earlier, Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) vice chairman Kamran Murtaza requested Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar to constitute a full court comprising all judges of the apex court to take up the matter of extreme national importance.

The spokesman for the military’s public relations department, Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, also requested CJP Nisar to hold an inquiry.

Justice Siddiqui in his letter written to the apex court had demanded formation of a one-member commission comprising a judge who never took the oath under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) to ascertain truth.

Justice Siddiqui also demanded action against those in uniform if the allegations of their interference in the judicial process stood proved.

CJP Nisar referred the case to IHC Chief Justice Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi to look into the matter. A source in the IHC told Dawn that Justice Kasi was in Quetta for the summer vacation, and that the administration had not initiated any proceedings so far.

He said the IHC chief justice would ask Justice Siddiqui if he had any evidence to substantiate the claim about the ‘ISI’s involvement to manipulate judicial proceedings’. The report would be forwarded to the CJP, the source added.

In response to a query whether the judicial powers of Justice Siddiqui would be withdrawn or if there was a possibility to stop him from performing judicial duty till the disposal of an inquiry, the sources said a judge must not be stopped from performing his duty unless the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) forwarded recommendations against him to the president after concluding his trial on certain allegations.

When contacted, senior lawyer Ahsanuddin Sheikh said it would be better if the SC’s full court took up this case, as Justice Siddiqui had specifically mentioned in his speech the name of IHC CJ Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi.

In his July 21 speech, Justice Siddiqui claimed that the “ISI approached the Chief Justice of IHC and conveyed him that they don’t want the release of Nawaz Sharif and his daughter before elections. The CJ assured them that the bench would be constituted as per their convenience.”

As per the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), unlike the orders of the sessions judge where the appeal is heard by a single-member bench, the accountability court decisions can only be fixed before a two-member bench of the high court.

As per official record of the IHC, Justice Siddiqui has not been made part of any division bench since October 2017 when the trial of the Sharif family in the accountability court commenced. None of the appeals filed by the Sharifs against the order of Judge Mohammad Bashir of the accountability court had ever been placed before Justice Siddiqui.

It is a coincidence that the division bench of the IHC dismissed almost all the appeals of the Sharif family against orders of accountability courts.

At the request of Justice Siddiqui, the sources said, IHC Chief Justice Mohammad Anwar Khan Kasi had in May constituted a division bench that included him as well as a junior judge, but it was assigned murder references, bail pleas and other criminal matters.

Following their conviction, when the Sharifs were supposed to file an appeal the IHC excluded Justice Siddiqui from the division bench and constituted another bench comprising two judges junior to Justice Siddiqui.

Before delivering speech at the Rawalpindi district bar, Justice Siddiqui passed observations which were also mentioned in his order that the secret agency manipulated the judicial proceedings.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2018