ISLAMABAD: Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan took exception to uncharitable pleadings on behalf of PTI chairman Imran Khan in which disparaging remarks were made against certain judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
“This is embarrassing even for judges to bracket them for deciding in favour of a political party,” Justice Hassan regretted, adding how the Chief Justice of Pakistan could mark cases to the judge mentioned in the petition after reading such remarks in the plea.
Justice Hassan was a member of the five-judge Constitutional Bench that had taken up a joint petition filed by five IHC judges — Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan and Saman Rafat Imtiaz — pleading that three transferred judges should not be treated as IHC judges until they take a fresh oath under Article 194, read in conjunction with Schedule III of the Constitution.
In the petition, PTI founder Imran Khan had contended that the five IHC judges were punished because they decided false cases on merit registered and filed against the petitioner without fear or favour.
“Moreover, former IHC chief justice Aamir Farooq, who now was rewarded by appointing him as judge of the Supreme Court, was repeatedly asked to recuse himself from petitioner’s cases, but he refused to do so.”
“And when IHC judges made a representation to former IHC CJ, the same were dismissed forthwith, issuing a fresh seniority list in which the senior puisine judge of IHC was demoted from his position while a freshly transferred judge was put in the senior most position,” the petition had contended.
The petition went on to state that a few days later former IHC CJ was appointed to the apex court and hence rewarded for damaging petitioner’s case, life and liberty, whereas the judges who stood up against the illegal and undue external pressures were punished by having their seniority disturbed. The entire debacle clearly showed lack of good faith, which is a dagger in the heart of Pakistan’s stability, the petition had regretted.
While pointing towards Advocate Idrees Asharaf, Justice Hassan today observed that the counsel had filed two petitions on behalf of Advocate Raja Muqsid and PTI founder Imran Khan and wondered whether any political party or a politician could ever claim such a stance in his petition.
