The Supreme Court on Friday issued show-cause notices to lawmakers Faisal Vawda and Mustafa Kamal, seeking responses from them on their recent rhetoric against the judiciary. The development came as a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa and including Justice Irfan Saadat Khan and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan presided over the proceedings of a suo motu notice taken a day ago against independent Senator Vawda. On Wednesday, two senators Vawda and PML-N’s Talal Chaudhry had held separate pressers, questioning the Islam­abad High Court (IHC) judges’ claim that intelligence agencies had interfered in the judicial affairs. Without any evidence no one had the right to point a finger at the institutions, they added. The next day, two MNA Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P’s) Mustafa Kamal and Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party’s (IPP’s) Awn Chaudhry also highlighted the judiciary’s alleged shortcomings and called for establishing ethical standards for the judges.

Kamal claimed the judiciary had set “ethical standards” for politicians and the dual citizenship of judges was a “big question mark” and the judiciary should be made answerable on this issue, while Awn had termed it a crisis that would lead to an “anarchy in the country”. At the outset of the hearing, CJP Isa asked the AAG if he had listened to Vawda’s press conference and whether it amounted to contempt of court. To this, Rehman replied that the stream he heard had some words “muted”. The chief justice then remarked that there had been “more” statements against him in comparison but he had “ignored” them. “They took advantage of [me] ignoring that by thinking ‘we can also make a speech’,” Justice Isa said. “If [I] have done wrong then name me [but] will not allow the institution (judiciary) to be targeted,” the top judge asserted. Stating that institutions belonged to the public, CJP Isa observed that “defaming” them was not equivalent to serving the country.

“There can be faults in institutions. I cannot bear someone else’s burden,” he added. The chief justice then said that if a wrong decision had been made, then “criticism” should be done. He further said that the judiciary was “trying to do good deeds”, highlighting that the apex court was also following the Practice and Procedures Act. Justice Isa noted that the one to wield a gun was the weakest as “he has nothing to say”, adding that the second-most weakest person was who hurled abuses. “A person who would have [valid] arguments would silence even us judges,” he said. The top judge emphasised that he had taken oath of his role “not for himself but for the institution”.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan