A meeting was held between the Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and the Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa in response to the letter of 6 Judges of the Islamabad High Court to the CJP and other senior Judges complaining of interference by the ISI and other intelligence agencies of Pakistan with fthe functioning of the judiciary. Thereafter the Pakistan Law Minister announced setting up of a commission to probe into the matter, headed by a retired Judge, Justice Tassaduq Jillani.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1824028
https://www.brecorder.com/news/40295615
However, Justice Jillani has said he is not willing to head such a probe.
Now Qazi Faez Isa ( whom I call Justice Dramabaz ) has issued a suo motu notice and set up a bench of 7 Judges of the Supreme Court to deal with the matter.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2461259/sc-takes-suo-motu-notice-on-judges-letter-
In my opinion this is just another farce by Justice Dramabaz. Let me explain.
1. There is no reason to disbelieve what the 6 Judges of IHC said in their letter.
A fascist reign of terror was unleashed in Pakistan by the Pakistan army after the events of 9th May, 2023 ( which many say were stage managed ). About 14,000 people were arrested by the security forces on trumped up charges, their houses broken into, and they were beaten/tortured, and then incarcerated in jail in inhuman conditions, where they are still rotting. The people of Pakistan are living in terror, and the Pakistan media is largely muzzled.
It is in the nature of fascism, whether of the Hitler type in Nazi Germany, the Mussolini type in Italy, or the Pinochet type in Chile ( where tens of thousands of people simply ‘disappeared’ ) that the judiciary is silenced. The judiciary stands as a bulwark against state oppression, and is a protector of the rights of the people, and hence it cannot be left independent under fascist rule. So it has to be silenced, as has lagely been done in Pakistan, and some of the ways that was done were mentioned in para 6 of the letter of the 6 IHC judges.
2. So what can the bench of 7 Judges of the Pakistan Supreme Court constituted by the CJP possibly achieve ? If they find the allegations of the 6 IHC Judges to be correct, which they undoubtedly are, will they send the Director General and other senior officers of the ISI, on whose instructions this outrage was obviously committed, as well as those who carried out the order, to jail for contempt of court ? It is laughable even to think of the idea. It requires people with guts and a spine to do that, and these people do not have that
3. What, then, will this 7 member bench do ?
It will hold that the allegations of these 6 IHC Judges cannot be substantiated
And to ensure that, Justice Dramabaz has deliberately selected 7 Supreme Court judges who are his sidekicks and do his bidding, and are known to be pro-Pakistan establishment, to be on the bench, instead of constituting a Full Bench of all Judges of the Supreme Court, including upright and independent Judges like Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Ayesha Malik, and Justice Shahid Waheed.
Justice Dramabaz will himself preside over this bench, and his actions have proved that he has become a servile toady of the Pakistan Establishment e.g. his flawed and dishonest judgmernt depriving Imran Khan’s PTI of its party symbol, and his other acts detailed below
So this bench of 7 Supreme Court judges constituted by Justice Dramabaz will only be a farce, and its proceedings a melodrama, a burlesque, and an excercise in futility.
4. What then should be done ? I have mentioned the only correct course of action in 2 video interviews ( one very recent ) which I gave to a young Pakistani journalist, Sohrab Barkat, of siasat.pk
That course of action is for the Chief Justice of Pakistan to announce that he will close all courts in Pakistan unless and until the Pakistan Establishment ( meaning the army ) gives an assurance that there will be no interference with the independence of the judiciary, no threats or snooping on the judges, and judicial orders will be obeyed. There is no other way out.
But that is too much to expect from Justice Dramabaz