ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court on Friday rejected Inter-ServicesIntelligence (ISI)’s plea seeking three months to present alternatesecurity plans for the agency’s headquarters near Aabpara, observing thatthe intelligence agency could not be given liberty to act on their own.

The remarks came when the three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice ofPakistan Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandiyal andJustice Ijazul Ahsan, resumed the hearing of a petition filed by theMinistry of Defence against an Islamabad High Court decision directingauthorities to remove barricades in front of the security agency’s HQ.

During the hearing, CJP Mian Saqib Nisar remarked that the intelligenceagency was equipped with resources to remove the barricades within a month.

“We cannot give more than four weeks to clear the street. Make a bomb proofwall or shift the headquarters elsewhere,” he remarked.

The top judge stated that the apex court cannot maintain differentstandards for Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and the general public. Thecourt summoned Director-General Counter Intelligence General Faiz Hamid andadjourned the hearing for later today (Saturday).

On June 22, Islamabad High Court’s Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui haddirected the ISI to clear the portion of Khayaban-e-Suharwardy in front ofits HQ in a week.

The chief justice said, “We have given the orders against encroachment onpublic land all over Pakistan and the ISI is not exempted from it,”reported media.

“Call the ISI chief. Why has the road not been opened for public usedespite court orders? This road has to be opened because it’s causingtrouble for the public,” he asserted.