Islamabad (Web Desk): The Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general Faiz Hamid and others on petition filed by former Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge Shaukat Azizi Siddiqui's challenging his removal.
The top court also issued notices to former IHC chief justice Anwar Khan Kasi, former registrar of the Supreme Court Arbab Muhammad Arif and retired brigadier Irfan Ramay.
A five-member bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Irfan Saadat Khan conducting proceedings on the plea.
The proceedings were broadcast live on the apex court's website as well as on its YouTube channel.
On Thursday, the SC asked Siddiqui to nominate to nominate ex-ISI chief General Faiz Hamid and others in the plea against his dismissal.
The case was fixed for hearing earlier this month after the judge filed a miscellaneous application with the Supreme Court to conduct an early hearing of his plea against the decision by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on his dismissal.
At the outset of today’s hearing, CJP Faez Isa asked the applicant to confirm the truth of his allegations.
“Think carefully about whether your allegations are true,” the CJP reiterated.
Siddiqui’s counsel, Hamid Khan, affirmed the truth of the allegations.
Justice Faez Isa pointed out that “you are making facilitators as respondents while other beneficiaries are some other people.”
He questioned why the direct beneficiary wasn’t included if facilitators were made respondents.
“Is the Army an independent institution or does it come under someone’s authority?”, the CJP asked.
The petitioner’s lawyer said that it comes under the government.
“The government is not an individual. Tell us about a person who runs the army,” the CJP said.
He cautioned that Siddiqui’s serious allegations could lead to significant consequences.
Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail emphasised the need for the court to address “what had been happening in the past.”
The CJP pointed out that Siddiqui primarily named Faiz Hamid, noting: “Qamar Javed Bajwa had not spoken anything directly about Siddiqui.”
He questioned the logic of issuing a notice to Bajwa. “Why should we issue a notice to him on the basis of this hearsay?”
Justice Isa highlighted that there was no direct allegation against Bajwa. He also observed that Ramay was irrelevant to the case.
Justice Mandokhail inquired whether the former IHC chief justice had constituted a bench as allegedly desired by the former DG ISI.
In response to Justice Mandokhail’s question about the decisions on Nawaz’s appeals, the lawyer clarified that Nawaz had recently been acquitted after the hearing of his pleas.
The CJP noted that Faizabad sit-in of 2017 was, in a speech, referred to as “sponsored”.
The counsel reminded Justice Faez Isa that he had issued a verdict on the matter.
However, the CJP suggested setting the verdict aside and focusing on what the petitioner had written in his plea.
The petitioner’s counsel asserted that the former ISI DG aimed to prevent Nawaz Sharif from being granted bail before the 2018 polls, “and what he desired had happened”.
Later, the court issued notices to four of the seven respondents and adjourned the hearing until an unspecified date in January.
It is pertinent to mention that the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) had found Siddiqui guilty of misconduct over a speech he delivered in July 2018 before the Rawalpindi District Bar Association.
Siddiqui had hurled allegations against personnel of a security agency, claiming that they manipulated the judicial proceedings.
In November, he had filed a miscellaneous application with the apex court for early hearing of his petition against the SJC’s decision.
