ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday reserved its verdict on a petition filed by former Islamabad High Court (IHC) senior judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui against his removal.
A five-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Aminuddin Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi, and Justice Irfan Saadat conducting the hearing, which was broadcast live on the apex court’s website.
Mr Siddiqui in his petition had challenged a decision of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) to dismiss him from service and an Oct 11, 2018 notification under which he was removed from the position for a controversial speech at Rawalpindi Bar Association.
In his speech, the former judge had blamed the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of influencing the court proceedings and constituting benches of choice.
A day earlier, former ISI director general retired Lt Gen Faiz Hameed submitted his reply in the case and rejected the allegation of his involvement in forming of benches to prolong detention of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz.
He said the former IHC judge was dragging him in this case for no reasons.
During today’s hearing, Justice Isa said that the court could not punish anyone without launching an inquiry. He observed that the SC has to define a difference between the Supreme Court and the Supreme Judicial Council.
Khawaja Haris represented Gen Hameed’s and brigadier Ramay while Wasim Sajjad appeared as a lawyer of Justice Kasi. Hamid Khan appeared as the petitioner’s counsel.
After haring arguments, the top court reserved verdict in the case.
More to follow…
