When Khrushchev became the president of the Soviet Union, he started criticizing Stalin and his policies in his first speech in the parliament. He said that Stalin had no tolerance, he was a dictator, a tyrant, and even his colleagues who disagreed were treated as enemies. His claims of prosperity and economic stability were also false and all the capitalists could not do as much damage as Stalin did to the Soviet Union. When Khrushchev was expressing these thoughts, one of the honorable members wrote something on a small paper and sent Delivered. Khrushchev paused for a moment and read the brief question written on the paper, “You had the opportunity to be close to Stalin, why didn’t you stop him when he was harming the Soviet Union?” Khrushchev’s face reddened, he waved the paper towards the chamber and shouted angrily, “Who insolent wrote this?” There was a pin drop silence in the House. All the members remained silent and bowed in fear.
Khrushchev shouted again, “I ask, who insolent wrote this?” As the House fell silent, Khrushchev laughed, tore up a note and tossed its parts in the air, saying, “When Stalin was harming the Soviet Union, we used to write similar notes and keep quiet.”
This is the tragedy of power, the greatest scholar, the greatest philosopher, the greatest intellectual in the proximity of the kings, when the rulers are flattered, then they lose the power of dissent. Even speaking the truth in the company of kings requires the king’s permission. As long as the sun of power rests on the spear, the greatest rightful cabbage is content only to write chits and sit quietly with bowed head at the time of glory. Because he knows that if he dares to raise his head at that time, he will die. If his life is spared, he will have to lose the friendship of the rulers. Obviously, there is no difference between the politicians standing outside the House of Power and the fish lying on the dry banks of the river. would have People who live in royal proximity are so familiar with this environment and the protocols of this environment that even if King Salamat grants them the right to disagree, they do not dare to write a question, because they know that this right to disagree. At any time, it can turn into insolence and the punishment for insolence in the halls of power is death, physical or political death!
Thank Allah SWT that for the last four decades, I have been doing this act of insolence with my name and image in disguise and the newspapers are also boldly supporting my insolent act, but it is not that I am facing these difficulties. I have not only faced it, but I have also gone through the harsh accountability of this act many times, and I keep looking for the way of wellness at the feet of Allah and my master.
They say that a leader of dacoits made a plan of robbery, put it in front of his companions and finally asked, if anyone has any objection, stand up, I am a very liberal leader, I always like disagreement. Hearing the Sardar’s announcement, a young dacoit with full conviction stood up boldly and boldly said “This is a very crude plan”. The Sardar took out his pistol from his pocket, aimed at the head of the young bandit and fired all the bullets into his chest, the youth fell backwards, the Sardar blew into the barrel of the pistol and looked at his companions while wiping his sweat and said, ” If anyone else objects, he should also stand up.”
Thus, the journey of our judiciary to the current conflict is not a surprise to the nation as soon as we hear the names of Justices Munir and Nazimuddin, but our same nation rejected the Dogger Court by calling it a “Gober court” (Cow filth) at the hands of a dictator like Musharraf. After the history-making act of Justice Iftikhar by the nation and the lawyers’ community, and the dreams that Chaudhry Iftikhar and his colleagues showed to the nation, the nation had become complacent that if the Caliphs of the Rashidun If not, surely we will see the era of Umar bin Abdul Aziz, but “Ay Basa Arzu Kah Khak Shudah” (All our desires have been buried in the soil), by the hands of the son and son-in-law of Chaudhry Iftikhar himself, all these wishes of the nation were destroyed. The Panama case made it even more infamous globally. This regret has not yet been resolved that Saqib Nisar, who wears the mask of Baba Rahmat, continues to defame the justice system and where, as the voice of his brother, sinks the ship of an art hospital of the country, the love of the country from abroad. I was guilty of the great crime of forever blocking the path of dedicated doctors, creating a history of biased justice.
A witness to his infamy has himself been demanding justice in Islamabad with strong evidence but has hired them to use their powers to silence him from threats that later shape arbitrary decisions. I received my compensation. Till date, no one has been able to make all these judges stand in the court and take account of the ruin of the country, but they are still enjoying themselves with monthly benefits of millions of rupees. His successors also followed the same path and played with the destiny of the nation by becoming a burden on institutions like the judiciary. The entire matter of self-executed Fayez Essa is also before the nation, but even with Shaukat Siddiqui’s steadfastness, this was treated by the same court which hanged Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto years later, accepting the statement of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Naseem Hasan Shah as correct. He acknowledged the pressure on the judges in the decision to punish.
In the same way, the discussion of former Chief Justice Atta Bandial and the women of his family with a political party in the media, the nation is also aware that the decisions of the nation began to be carried out by the will of the women of the house instead of the courts.
The history of external interference in judicial affairs in Pakistan is not new. Citing the recent rehabilitation decision of Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui as an example, six judges of the Islamabad High Court wrote a detailed letter to the Supreme Judicial Council regarding the pressure of the ISI, through which the intelligence agencies, including the ISI, in the judicial affairs of the administration. Requesting to widen the scope of the investigation related to the interference, he has asked to call a meeting of the Judicial Council. The letter written by the judges alleges direct interference in judicial affairs by the ISI and other intelligence agencies and harassment of judges. Decisions are made under some degree of external or establishment pressure.
After this letter came to the fore, a full court meeting of the Supreme Court was also held under the chairmanship of the Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Esa, after which Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif along with his law minister called the Supreme Court on an emergency basis on Thursday. They reached the court for a meeting, where the prime minister has assured to control the interference of the intelligence agencies while announcing further investigation into the matter. Now let’s see what happens to the storm in this teacup.
In recent history, be it the allegations of Justice Retired Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui’s interference with the ISI related to the Panama case against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter and the then Chief Minister of Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif or the news of forming a joint investigation team through WhatsApp, the trial court Be it a “Colonel Sahib” meeting the judge and appearing in front of the cameras or the presidential reference against Chief Justice Qazi Faez Esa himself, these are all incidents that have given rise to the discussion of unnecessary interference in judicial affairs, in which the lower courts and Islamabad A few incidents of pressure on High Court judges have been included. The letter also contains the story of a lower court judge’s complaint against the ISI officials before the Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court and later the sessions judge was made “OSD”. Now it is to be seen whether the judges of other high courts of the country are also facing a similar situation. The Code of Conduct for Judges does not provide guidance on how judges should react in such a situation. And it is also not clear how judges should justify such interference.
The judges demand that an institutional “response” is needed to ensure the independence of the judiciary. Last year on May 10, 2023, the judges of the High Court wrote a letter to the Chief Justice that court proceedings should be started without the interference of the ISI. The letter also referred to the dismissal of Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad High Court on October 11, 2018, for reporting the interference of the intelligence agency, and now the Supreme Court has invalidated the dismissal of Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui in the judgment of March 22. Calling him a retired judge, he reiterated his full support for an investigation into the allegations levelled against Shaukat Siddiqui.
The letter asked who were “undermining” the independence of the judiciary. And who supported them? All should be held accountable so that this does not happen again. Also, there is no guidance in the Judges’ Code of Conduct on how to report such a situation. The letter demanded that the scope of the investigation in this regard should be widened to see if such interference is still ongoing. There is still no interference in the formation of marking and benches for the hearing of cases? It should also be an inquiry whether it is not state policy to influence the judicial proceedings in political cases. This policy is not being implemented by threatening the judges through the intelligence agencies to accept the veiled dictatorship in the country?
In this letter, it is said that the operatives of ISI put pressure on the judges who declared the petition inadmissible through friends, relatives and the judge was admitted to the hospital suffering from high blood pressure due to severe mental stress and this matter is Islamabad. It was brought to the notice of the Chief Justice of the High Court and the Supreme Court of Pakistan, whereupon the Chief Justice was assured by the DG of ISI that no ISI official would “approach” any High Court judge. But despite this, the interference of ISI operatives continued. The judge’s name was not written in the letter written by the judges, but it was said that the judge’s son and family members were monitored and later the judge’s brother was abducted by armed men, electric shocks were applied during the detention and videotaped. The statement was released after 24 hours of recording.
The letter pressured a High Court judge to resign by filing a reference in the Supreme Judicial Council. The letter also said that cameras were installed in Tuan’s drawing room and master bedroom when a judge shifted to the government house, and the camera was accompanied by a SIM card, which was transmitting audio and video recordings somewhere. A camera was also installed in the judge’s master bedroom, private video and “USB” of the judge and his family were also recovered.
According to retired Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, who was recently reinstated from the Supreme Court, the Supreme Judicial Council is not an advisory forum, but issues against the conduct of judges are considered here. A judge should know what to do when he intervenes in the court. Now it becomes important how the Supreme Judicial Council reacts to this now. It should be remembered that Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui had accused former ISI chief General Faiz Hameed along with senior officers of ISI that they came to Islamabad High Court to give verdict against Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz in Panama cases. He also offered to make the Chief Justice. This is the same Faiz Hameed, on whom Absar Alam, the most senior journalist of the country, has made very terrible accusations about how this person, taking advantage of his position, attacked the house of an important developer of the country in the dark of night and kidnapped men and women there. He was abducted and later the property worth billions of rupees were transferred to the name of one of her lady agent sitting in the UK, but till today no one has the courage to investigate him.
According to Nasira Iqbal, a former judge of the Lahore High Court, “She and her husband Javed Iqbal have been judges of the Lahore High Court. She was never approached by any ISI or secret agency official, and she never reported any such incident to her husband. Heard. When the judges themselves do not ask for any “favours”, no one from the other side has the courage to put pressure on the judge. When someone pressures the judge to make a decision, then the judge should take contempt of court proceedings. When the judges will show that they are brave and have no greed, then no one will come near them. However, now the judges of Islamabad High Court have chosen the right path and now the Chief Justice will have to investigate it.
It should be kept in mind that when the judges make requests and ask for protocols for their families as well and even exchange wishes and appointments, after which the chain of requests will start from the other side as well. In political cases the judges themselves have a “god complex” and feel that they can send Prime Ministers home and have done so in the past.
According to the former Attorney General Ishtar Osaf, the personal purpose of the judges has also been included in this letter. The Supreme Judicial Council is not the only forum to which this letter is written. Now this matter has come to light and the Chief Justice should take notice of it. The former secretary of the Lahore High Court Bar Association has also said that the judges have done a great job by writing this letter. In his opinion, these events were very clear, but now this letter has sealed them. Judges usually admit such things in interviews after employment, but this rarely happens during employment. If Naseem Hasan Shah did not dare to accept any kind of pressure during his tenure, today he would be in the face of the judiciary to some extent. There would not have been such embarrassing scars. Even after his retirement from his position, he continued to receive the privileges of the position of the head of the cricket board and when nothing was left, he made such a statement to clean himself up on the field, which will continue to make him infamous in history. Now the ball is in the court of Chief Justice Qazi Faez Esa as to how he can bear this burden or become salt in the salt mine, and he too will write his name in history and leave. Now the Bar Council must support the judges more to help set the course of history.
According to another lawyer, in the Supreme Judicial Council it is usually written against the judges, but here the judges have written it themselves. I think there is a big gap between the bar and the bench. On the one hand, the judges are hearing the application for the acquisition of their own house, then even the letter written by them cannot be given much importance. When the judges of the High Court wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of their court, then Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb also signed it, but he is not included in the letter written to the council. Should run. The letter appears to challenge Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa to either fight against the intelligence agencies or anger his judges. An attempt has been made to put pressure by filing a reference against a judge. Now the matter cannot be resolved through a letter because it is a matter of investigation whether the judge has relations with “Land Mafia” or not.
On the other hand, on the situation arising from the Islamabad High Court judges’ letter, the Supreme Court Bar Association has said in its declaration that the Supreme Court Bar believes in the rule of law and expresses strong disapproval of the incident mentioned in the judges’ letter. Interference in private life should not only be condemned but action should also be taken against it. The Supreme Court believes in the independence of the judiciary and will not tolerate any action against the independence of the judiciary. Other bar associations across the country have also expressed their opinion in different ways, demanding the formation of a judicial council to resolve the issue as soon as possible. We all know what has been drawn in various global surveys about the performance of our judiciary globally. Now, after this serious case, there will definitely be an impression that will be very harmful to the reputation of the country. Therefore, it has become necessary to conduct a transparent inquiry into this matter and take legal action against those who are involved in this matter. What is the progress so far? Will he be saved by being declared a sacred cow like the former army chief Musharraf?
آج کل کیا کیا کرشمے آدمی کے ساتھ ہیں
دل کسی کے ساتھ تلواریں کسی کے ساتھ ہیں
بھیڑ کوئی ہو ،تماشہ کوئی ، ہنگامہ کوئی
خوف کے مارے ہوئے ہیں، ہر کسی کے ساتھ ہیں
Today what charms are with the man
Hearts are with someone, swords are with someone
There is no crowd, no spectacle, no commotion
struck by fear, Are with everyone
Sunday 31st March 2024
