A petition was submitted in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking investigation into the veracity of the alleged audiotape of former chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar and other events which have tinted the image of the judiciary. The petition was submitted by Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) President Salahuddin Ahmed and a member of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan from Sindh, Syed Haider Imam Rizvi.
The petitioners have requested that an independent commission, comprising journalists, civil society members, retired judges, and legal professionals, be formed to investigate the authenticity of ex-CJ Nisar’s alleged audiotape and other events that have raised questions about the independence of the judiciary.
The petition said a “series of events that have taken place tend to erode the credibility, reputation and independence of the judiciary in the eyes of the people”.
The petitioners demanded that an inquiry should be held into the speech delivered by former justice Shaukat Aziz Siddique in which he accused officials of an intelligence agency of interfering in the judicial proceedings and particularly influencing the cases of former primer Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz.
The petition further demanded that the alleged video of accountability court judge Arshad Malik, in which he admitted that he convicted Nawaz ‘under duress’, and the affidavit of the former chief judge of Gilgit-Baltistan, in which he accused Nisar of asking an IHC judge to not grant bail to Nawaz and Maryam before the 2018 general election, should also be probed.
The petition will be heard by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah on Monday.
