The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday urged the government to ensure the independence of the judiciary as the apex court resumed hearing on the case regarding allegations made by six Islamabad High Court judges alleging interference by the country’s intelligence agencies in judicial affairs.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Musarrat Hilali, and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan took up the case after the SC took a suo motu last month.

The proceedings are being streamed live on the SC’s website and its YouTube channel.

During the hearing, Attorney General of Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan appeared and requested the apex court for more time to present his arguments as he had not received a copy of the April 30 hearing.

He said the government would be able to file its response by tomorrow (Wednesday) if they received the order today (Tuesday).

In the previous hearing, Justice Athar Minallah had said that the state has to protect judges as well as the independence of the judiciary.

Background

In March, IHC judges including Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Tariq Mahmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir and Justice Saman Raffat Imtiaz wrote a letter to Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) seeking guidance on the interference of intelligent agencies in judicial functions.

Later, the SC took suo motu on a letter of the IHC judges of interference and intimidation by the operatives of intelligence agencies in judicial work.

Later, Lahore High Court and IHC held Full Court meetings in their respective courts. The IHC judges unanimously decided to give an institutional response in case of any such meddling into their judicial working in future.