The Supreme Court of Pakistan has set aside all the objections raised by the government against the members of the five-judge bench hearing audio commission case. Justice Ijazul Ahsan pronounced the reserved decision on Friday which declared the objections "an attack on the independence of judiciary". The SC five-member larger bench had earlier reserved its decision on the government's objections. The government had objected to the inclusion of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, and Justice Munib Akhtar in the bench. Justice Hassan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Shahid Waheed are also part of the larger bench. The government constituted an audio leaks inquiry commission under the chairmanship of Justice Qazi Faez Isa to probe the veracity of the audio leaks involving judges. However, the SC five-member larger bench stopped the commission from functioning.

 Subsequently, the Justice Isa-led commission, in a concise statement submitted to the SC, had also objected to the five-member bench. It said judges were required to not allow their “personal interest to influence their ‘official conduct’ or ‘official decisions’”. The response stated that one of the alleged audio leaks concerned the CJP’s mother-in-law and Justice Akhtar was also mentioned during the conversation. The federal coalition had formed the commission on May 20 under Section 3 of the Pakistan Commission of Inquiry Act 2017.

 
Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)