ISLAMABAD – A complaint was filed in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC)against Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Saturday.
The complainant, advocate Ali Azim Afridi, filed the complaint against thetop judge. The complainant said that on May 3, he had filed a petition inthe Supreme Court challenging Judge Mian Hassan Gul Aurangzeb’s appointmentto the Islamabad High Court (IHC). According to the complaint, Afridireached Justice Nisar’s chambers to express his views on the appointment.When he started to narrate the petition, the CJP questioned whether he wasthe son of retired judge Azim Afridi of the IHC to which the advocatereplied in the affirmative.
“The said response uninvitingly irked Justice Saqib Nisar; dismissing thecase in the like terms, ‘Case dismissed, dismissed and dismissed’,” thecomplaint writes.
“The uninvited uproar of Justice Nisar was questioned by the petitioner inthe like terms, ‘Your honour, right of hearing is a fundamental rightprovided for in the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan’, whichtoo piqued Justice Saqib Nisar expressing his will, in the similar terms,‘Leave my chamber or otherwise’, which though was responded; thankingJustice Mian Saqib Nisar,” the complaint adds.Afridi then penned 13questions, which raised concerns regarding the conduct of a judge. Thepetitioner alleges that keeping the said incident in mind, “questions ariseover how a person occupying such a powerful office can dismiss petitionswithout giving just cause”. “Each question begged intervention from the SJCin the matter.”
To further strengthen the complaint, Afridi went on to quote multiplesenior judges in different cases.
In Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui’s case, the complaint states, it was held,“If a person looses or abandons the necessary attributes of a judge ofintegrity, probity, legal expertise and mental balance then he is notentitled to any security of tenure and must be weeded out post-haste withsurgical precision through due process in terms of Article 209 of theConstitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”
“Such removal is necessary to preserve the independence of Judiciary; sinceaccountability strengthens rather than weakens institutions,” it wasfurther held. It was equally observed in former chief justice ChaudhryIftikhar’s case: “It is worth mentioning that ultimately every person andevery institution is the custodian of his/its own reputation and integrity;if we do not guard our reputation the honourable people of Pakistan will bejustified in pointing fingers at us.”