Islamabad High Court Judges Allege Pakistans ISI Interference In Court Matters, Seeks Intervention

Six judges of the Islamabad High Court have written a letter to the Supreme Judicial Council against the alleged “interference” and “intimidation” by the “operatives of intelligence agencies.”

Islamabad: At least six serving judges from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) collectively wrote to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), urging for a judicial conference to address concerns regarding the “interference of intelligence agencies with judicial functions”. All seven judges of the IHC, except Chief Justice Amer Farooq, highlighted how senior Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officials have been influencing judicial proceedings and pressuring judges.

The letter, signed by Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Baqir Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir, and Justice Salman Rafat Imtiaz, follows the Supreme Court’s ruling on March 22 concerning the dismissal case of Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui.

“We are writing to seek guidance from the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) with regard to the duty of a judge to report and respond to actions on the part of members of the executive, including operatives of intelligence agencies, that seek to interfere with discharge of his/her official functions and qualify as intimidation, as well as the duty to report any such actions that come to his/her attention in relation to colleagues and/or members of the courts that the High Court supervises,” the letter read.

This came days after the apex court declared the removal of former IHC Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui illegal and directed that he may now be considered a retired judge, as reported by Geo News.

“This matter has arisen in the aftermath of the judgment dated 22.03.2024 rendered by the Supreme Court in the matter of Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui vs. Federation of Pakistan (C.P. No. 76 of 2018), in which it has been declared that Justice Siddiqui, who was the senior puisne judge of Islamabad High Court (“IHC”), was wrongfully removed on the basis of a report of the Supreme Judicial Council (“SJC”) dated 11.10.2018, and would be deemed to have retired as a judge of the IHC,” it read.

Expressing concern over the absence of guidance in the SJC’s code of conduct for judges regarding incidents akin to intimidation and interference with judicial independence, the IHC judges call for an inquiry into whether there is an ongoing executive policy to interfere in judicial affairs.