ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) turned down an Intra Court Appeal (ICA) praying it to direct the secretary Ministry of Interior to conduct an inquiry regarding the “threat letter” and forward the same to the relevant court for trial of high treason against former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his aides.
A division bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Tuesday, announced the verdict which it had earlier reserved after hearing the arguments of Moulvi Iqbal Haider advocate who had challenged a single bench of IHC comprising Chief Justice of IHC Justice Athar Minallah’s verdict.
The IHC dual bench upheld the single bench’s decision which had rejected his petition, wherein, the petitioner stated that by “fabricating” a letter-gate conspiracy, the political government has committed high treason, thus, his complaint pending with Secretary Interior be, under directions, forwarded to the relevant court for trial of high treason against the former prime minister and his aides.
In his petition, Haider sought directions to the federal government for probing the contents of the cable sent by the Ambassador of Pakistan in the United States of America to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Pakistan. He also sought a direction for initiating proceedings under the High Treason (Punishment) Act, 1973 against Imran Khan, former prime minister, Fawad Chaudhry, former federal minister, and the Ambassador of Pakistan in the United States of America. In addition, he prayed that their names be ordered to be placed on the Exit Control List.
The IHC chief justice had observed in his written judgment that the allegations and assertions made against a former elected prime minister in the memorandum of the petition are deprecated.
“Moreover, making the cable sent by a diplomat of Pakistan controversial and subject of litigation is against public interest and the interests of the State. It is an onerous duty of every citizen to ensure that sensitive national security issues are not sensationalized or politicized,” added Justice Minallah.
He further said, “Dragging the diplomats and their classified reporting and assessments into political controversies could undermine Pakistan’s national interests, its diplomacy and external relations.”
Therefore, he declared, “For the above reasons, the Court is satisfied that the petition is frivolous and the petitioner has unjustifiably attempted to make the cable controversial. The petition is; therefore, dismissed and a cost of Rs100,000 is imposed on the petitioner.”
The IHC bench mentioned that the petitioner claimed that the treason case against General (retired) Pervaiz Musharraf was initiated pursuant to acceptance of his petition. The bench noted that it is settled law that matters relating to foreign affairs of the country are extremely sensitive and, therefore, not justiciable while exercising extra ordinary jurisdiction under Article 199 of the Constitution.
It stated that the assertions made in the memorandum of the petition are vague and they are not supported by any credible material so as to justify making of a diplomatic cable as the subject of the litigation in hand.
“The diplomatic cables are of immense importance and have a limited access. They are classified because they enable the Pakistani diplomats to write assessments and analysis uninhabited including disclosing rare things. The diplomats have the assurance that their reporting and assessments would be fully protected and shall not be sensationalized nor politicized,” maintained the bench.
In this matter, Haider filed the petition under Article 199 and cited the federation through Ministry of Law and Justice, Secretary Defence, Secretary Foreign Affairs, Secretary Interior, US Ambassador, former Prime Minister Imran Khan, Ambassador to USA Asad Majeed, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Minister Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri as respondents.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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