SC moved to probe IHC judges' letter about spy agencies

• Petitioner terms letter a "premeditated plan".
• Plea requests SC to form empowered commission.
• Judges ask council to look into spy agencies' “interference”.

A petitioner, Mian Dawood Advocate, Wednesday filed a constitutional plea in the Supreme Court, seeking an open court investigation of a letter, written by six judges of the Islamabad High Court to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) about the alleged interference by spy agencies in the judiciary.

The letter, written a day earlier on Tuesday, urged the council to convene a judicial convention over the alleged interference of members of the executive, including operatives of intelligence agencies, in judicial affairs.

In his petition, the advocate has requested the apex court to form an empowered commission and conduct a probe.

He termed the letter by the judges a "premeditated plan".

The IHC judges — who wrote the letter to the SJC — include Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir, and Justice Saman Fafat Imtiaz.

Seeking guidance from the council on “interference” of the spy agencies in courts’ affairs, the judge wrote: "We are writing to seek guidance from the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) with regard to the duty of a judge to report and respond to actions on part of members of the executive, including operatives of intelligence agencies, that seek to interfere with discharge of his/her official functions and qualify as intimidation, as well as the duty to report any such actions that come to his/her attention in relation to colleagues and/or members of the courts that the High Court supervises."

The development came days after the top court declared the removal of former IHC Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui illegal, directing that he may now be considered as a retired judge.

The verdict noted that the SJC proceeded against Justice Siddiqui on the "assumption that the truth or falseness of the allegations levelled" by the former judge was "irrelevant". It also noted that the SJC opined that Justice Siddiqui had failed to substantiate, independently corroborate, substantiate or prove the allegations levelled by him.

The IHC judges, in their letter, noted that the code of conduct for judges prescribed by SJC provides no guidance on how they "must react to and or report incidents that are tantamount to intimidation and interfere with judicial independence".

The judges further said that they “believe it is imperative to inquire into and determine whether there exists a continuing policy on the part of the executive branch of the state" to meddle in judicial affairs.