On the objections to the IHC bench which was formed to hear former chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s appeal against the interim decision of a trial court in his defamation suit against the PTI chairman, Justice Babar Sattar has been removed from being part of the bench on Saturday. Former CJP Iftikhar Ch filed his appeal in the Islamabad High Court challenging the interim decision of a trial court in Rs20 billion defamation suit against former prime minister and PTI Chief Imran Khan. To hear his appeal, the court formed a bench which was consisted of Justice Babar Sattar and Justice Miangul Hassan.

But Iftikhar Ch raised an objection over the inclusion of Justice Sattar in the bench saying that the latter had written articles in newspapers condemning the ‘judicial activism’ by particularly mentioning his name. In his plea, the former CJP prayed to the court that it was appropriate if Justice Sattar would recuse himself from the case due to his prejudiced views. Now the IHC has formed a new bench comprising Justice Miangul and Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir. The bench will hear the case on Feb 9. Imran Khan had levelled rigging allegations on Iftikhar Ch during 2013 general elections. The former CJP filed Rs20 billion defamation suit against the PTI chairman. As the matter is sub judice in the high court, the sessions court has postponed its proceedings on the case.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP