Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa on Monday expressed serious displeasure at Islamabad IG Akbar Nasir Khan as the apex court heard the matter concerning the Federal Investigation Agency’s harassment of journalists accused of an anti-judiciary campaign.
Irked over the police’s failure to arrest individuals involved in the abduction of journalist Matiullah Jan in 2020, the CJP while addressing Attorney General of Pakistan Mansoor Awan said, “A crime was recorded on camera, but you could not trace those responsible for it?” “Mr AGP, what kind of an IG is this? He should be removed,” CJP Isa asserted.
The chief justice asked the Islamabad IG how much more time was needed to arrest the abductors if four years were not enough. “Do you need four centuries?” he asked, warning the IG that the whole country had its eyes on his performance.
“It appears from your performance that you are playing the role of a facilitator. Shoot one journalist, torture, or pick up another,” the CJP stated, criticizing how cameras installed under the Safe City project also stop working during such incidents. A lawyer in the courtroom then informed the SC that journalist Asad Toor was currently in jail with an FIR lodged against him.
The chief justice asked the FIA officer how the provisions under which Toor was booked were justified. “Does the FIA have any well-educated individual within its ranks?”, the CJP asked, suggesting the institution get someone to translate the law in Urdu otherwise.
“Did we [the judiciary] complain to you against any journalist? Did you issue notices to journalists in our names? Are you using us to get your work done?” the chief justice asked.
Journalist Asad Toor has been booked under some serious provisions, he said. “How do the provisions, including those about sensitive information, apply here?” CJP Isa further asked, taking the FIA officer to task over not even mentioning the anti-judiciary campaign in the FIR when the summons issued to Toor were regarding running a campaign against the judiciary. “You have used the judiciary to get your work done,” the chief justice asserted.
Barrister Salahuddin informed the court that the JIT to probe the allegations against the journalists was formed before the registration of the cases. He prayed to the court to declare the JIT notification null and void.
The chief justice then inquired why an officer from the Inter-Services Intelligence was part of the JIT, as the intelligence agency is not a law enforcement agency and it is also not the jurisdiction of the agency.
