Prime Minister’s aide on Political and Public Affairs RanaSanaullahexpressed concern over the prevailing situation in the country, saying that it was harmful not only for the government but also for the judiciary and the state.
“Such a situation should not be allowed to continue,” the PML-N leader said while responding to a question about the government’s plans to file a reference against two senior judges of the Supreme Court during Geo News’ programme ‘AajShahzebKhanzada Kay Sath’.
A day earlier, Sanaullah hinted that a reference could be filed against two senior apex court judges “over their conduct in certain matters”.”Their [two SC judges] general attitude is to write letters on every issue…the letters make headlines first and later reach the addressee,” he said while speaking to a private news channel a day earlier.
His remarks came amid strong opposition over the nomination of six judges to the Supreme Court by the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) meeting, which was boycotted by PTI lawmakers and two senior SC judges. The chief justices of all high courts, except the Lahore High Court (LHC) were among the six judges nominated.
Earlier, three judges — from Sindh, Balochistan, and Lahore — were transferred to the IHC, drawing severe criticism from the legal fraternity, including the IHC judges.The five justices, contesting the seniority criteria, were of the view that the judges transferred from other high courts should take oath anew to reset their seniority.
Nevertheless, their representation was rejected by IHC Chief Justice AamerFarooq, saying the new oath was not required as their seniority was calculated from the time they took oath in their respective high court and not from the date of their transfer.
Meanwhile, PTI Senator Hamid Khan said that the lawyer community would challenge the nominations of the six judges in the top court and vowed to continue the “protest movement”.
Separately, all three representative bar councils of the federal capital — Islamabad Bar Council (IBC), Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA), and Islamabad District Bar Association (IDBA) — announced launching a long march during the hearing of 26th amendment-related petitions.
Speaking during today’s programme, Sanaullah clarified that his remarks of filing a reference against the judges were neither an announcement nor a threat, emphasising that the matter is a cause for concern for everyone, including himself.
