RAWALPINDIN – The District Bar Association of Rawalpindi on Mondaydistanced itself from Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge Shaukat AzizSiddiqui’s speech in which he accused ISI of meddling in judicial affairs.
While addressing the Rawalpindi bar on Saturday, the IHC judge had claimedthat personnel of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) were manipulatingjudicial proceedings.
Amidst chants of “*shame!*” from members of the bar and other attendees, hehad claimed that the spy agency had approached IHC Chief Justice MuhammadAnwar Khan Kasi and said: “‘We do not want to let Nawaz Sharif and hisdaughter come out [of the prison] until elections; do not include ShaukatAziz Siddiqui on the bench [hearing the Sharifs’ appeals]’.”
Justice Siddiqui had offered no evidence to support the claims he made.
Addressing a joint press conference on Monday, the bar’s president, KhurramMasood Kayani, and Secretary General Raja Amir said Justice Siddiqui’sspeech had nothing to do with the bar.
They said the senior IHC judge had been invited to the bar to speak toyoung lawyers about legal ethics, but that he “started mocking institutionsin a speech”.
The bar condemns the speech against state institutions, the office-bearerssaid.