Govt, judiciary and state equally vulnerable in current situation, says Rana

Amid rising tensions over the nomination of six judges to the Supreme Court and the transfer of jurists to the Islamabad High Court (IHC), Prime Minister's aide on Political and Public Affairs Rana Sanaullah on Wednesday said that the government, judiciary and state were equally vulnerable in the current situation.

"Such a situation should not be allowed to continue," the PML-N leader said while responding to a question about the government's plans to file a reference against two senior judges of the Supreme Court during Geo News' programme 'Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath'.

A day earlier, Sanaullah hinted that a reference could be filed against two senior apex court judges "over their conduct in certain matters".

"Their [two SC judges] general attitude is to write letters on every issue...the letters make headlines first and later reach the addressee," he said while speaking to a private news channel a day earlier.

His remarks came amid strong opposition over the nomination of six judges to the Supreme Court by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) meeting, which was boycotted by PTI lawmakers and two senior SC judges. The chief justices of all high courts, except the Lahore High Court (LHC) were among the six judges nominated.

Earlier, three judges — from Sindh, Balochistan, and Lahore — were transferred to the IHC, drawing severe criticism from the legal fraternity, including the IHC judges.

The five justices, contesting the seniority criteria, were of the view that the judges transferred from other high courts should take oath anew to reset their seniority.

Nevertheless, their representation was rejected by IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, saying the new oath was not required as their seniority was calculated from the time they took oath in their respective high court and not from the date of their transfer.

Meanwhile, PTI Senator Hamid Khan said that the lawyer community would challenge the nominations of the six judges in the top court and vowed to continue the "protest movement".

Separately, all three representative bar councils of the federal capital — Islamabad Bar Council (IBC), Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA), and Islamabad District Bar Association (IDBA) — announced launching a long march during the hearing of 26th amendment-related petitions.

Speaking during today's programme, Sanaullah clarified that his remarks of filing a reference against the judges were neither an announcement nor a threat, emphasising that the matter is a cause for concern for everyone, including himself.

He pointed out that the chief justice of Pakistan has never been part of any grouping or confrontation.

He said despite having their offices close to each other, the senior judges wrote letters containing critical remarks against each other, giving the impression that a major disagreement was present among them.

"Judges speak through verdicts. Speaking via letters and writing letters in such a manner, that they are leaked to the media before even reaching thr addressee...if this is not misconduct then what is," he asked.

Similar to the apex court, Sanaullah said, discord was now spreading to the high courts and bar councils — apparently referring to the criticism of judges' transfer to the IHC.

Citing Article 200 of the Constitution, the premier's aide addressed the controversy surrounding the transfer of high court judges.

He stated that the transfer did not happen due to an executive order but through the agreement of three high court judges which is required for transferring a high court judge.