ISLAMABAD – Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa and three other judges of the Supreme Court received threatening letters, the sources close to the development said on Wednesday.
Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Jamal Mandokhail and Justice Aminuddin Khan are the other judges who received threatening letters.
They said that the letters were received on April 1.
The letters contained powder and different dangerous signs.
The development took place at the moment when three judges of the Lahore High Court received the similar threatening letters.
On Tuesday, eight judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) received threatening letters carrying anthrax power and dangerous signs.
The LHC registrar office said that three judges including Justice Shujaat Ali Khan, Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan and Justice Aalia Neelum.
The CTD officials and the senior police officials reached the Lahore High Court (LHC) premises. The strict security arrangements were made. The registrar office said that the said three judges are part of the administrative committee.
The development took place when the Supreme Court seven-member bench took up the matter of the letters to the Islamabad High Court judges. Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa headed the seven-member bench.
The top judge remarked that they would not tolerate any interference in the judicial matters. The CJP remarked that the matter of the letters was being heard with utmost seriousness.
Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Musarrat Hilali and Naeem Akhtar Afghan were the other members of the bench.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court initiated suo motu proceedings following a petition signed by approximately 300 lawyers from various bar associations nationwide, appealing Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa to invoke the apex court’s suo motu powers as per Article 184(3) of the Constitution regarding the aforementioned letter.
The lawyers expressed their dissent towards the establishment of an inquiry commission led by former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jilani, to investigate the allegations.
The sources revealed that the Chief Justice referred the matter to a judges’ committee, consisting of himself and the three most senior judges of the Supreme Court under the Supreme Court (Practice and Procedure) Act 2023, for consideration and the formation of a bench to hear the case.
Later, the committee opted to exercise suo motu jurisdiction under Article 184(3) of the Constitution and scheduled the hearing for April 3rd.
The six judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) including a female judge wrote a letter to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and informed it about the threats and problems they were receiving. They also unveiled the interference and pressure on them from the agencies regarding different cases.
On Tuesday, the eight judges of the IHC received threatening letters containing anthrax and strange signs. The security of the judges was tightened after it.
