The Supreme Court observations in the Faizabad Dharna (sit-in) case judgement are based on vague facts about the performance of premier civilian intelligence agency; therefore, the agency has sought a review of it.
The Intelligence Bureau filed a review petition under Article 188 of Constitution read with Order XXVI, Rule 1 of Supreme Court Rules, 1980, through Deputy Attorney General Sohail Mehmood.
It sought the review of the adverse observations/contents in para 53(12) and (14) as these adversely affect the status of the premier civilian intelligence agency.
The apex court on 21-11-2017 had taken a suo motu notice under the Article 184(3) of Constitution regarding dharna (sit-in) at the Faizabad Interchange that virtually locked down Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and caused huge traffic problem for the people of twin cities.
It submitted that the IB remained in close contact during the sit-in with the federal and the Punjab governments and forewarned them about the plans and intentions of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLYRA), Pakistan, with a view to foiling their attempt to storm/lock down Islamabad. The TLYRA was determined to exploit the situation and gain political mileage to garner support for the next general elections.
The petition said the IB was premier civilian intelligence agency responsible for state security and works within its mandate, hence the observation made in the impugned judgment were vague to the extent of IB.
The impugned judgement makes a bad impression on the general public that the IB is involved in unlawful activities and politics, transgressing constitutional boundaries. The observations made in the impugned judgement are based on vague facts and the efforts made by the IB have been entirely ignored.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), and Federal Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed last week filed review petitions against the Faizabad sit-in case judgement.
The Supreme Court judgement authored by Justice Qazi Faez Isa had given findings against the intelligence agencies, including Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Military Intelligence (MI), Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), political parties PTI and MQM and PEMRA, and Election Commission of Pakistan.
The review petitions of PTI, MQM, ECP and Sh Rasheed said they had been condemned unheard, rendering the impugned judgement to be a nullity, warranting the same to be set at a naught, without any loss of time. The author judge also "violated" the third preamble to the Superior Judiciary's Code of Conduct which inter alia, provides for the full implementation of high principles as well the universal requirement of natural justice.
The impugned judgement is bad in law. The same is completely without jurisdiction, void ab initio and of no legal effect. The impugned judgement may kindly be reviewed in the interest of justice, they said.