Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Tuesday has asked Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial to \u201cdistance himself\u201d from hearing the audio leaks case to ensure that true justice is served to the aggrieved.<\/p>\n
He was referring to a five-member bench order of the apex court, headed by the chief justice, which stayed the proceedings on various petitions challenging the constitution of the judicial commission formed by the federal government, tasked to inquire about the veracity of audio leaks allegedly involving the SC judge and a relative of the top judge.<\/p>\n
The commission was headed by the most senior judge of the SC after the CJP, Justice Qazi Faez Isa. It also compromised of Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.<\/p>\n
Addressing the floor of the House of National Assembly, the defence minister expressed his opinion on the \u2018wedge between the judiciary and the parliament\u2019 continuing for more than a year, creating political unrest in the country.<\/p>\n
The minister recalled that former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry\u2019s son was involved in a legal battle with Real Estate Tycoon Malik Riaz. He said the former chief justice recused himself from the case due to the conflict of interest. The minister regretted that such norms and precedents had been \u201cabandoned by few judges of the apex court\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry can recuse himself then why can\u2019t the incumbent chief justice follow the same precedent to stop influencing the justice [proceedings]in audio leaks case,\u201d he viewed.<\/p>\n
He reiterated the government had only intended by constituting the judicial commission, which included the members of the judiciary, to ensure transparency in court\u2019s proceedings.<\/p>\n
He regretted that the Apex Court Chief Justice scuttled the senior judge of the Supreme Court and the chief justice of the Balochistan High Court from the Commission. \u201cWe had not appointed members of the Parliament or someone outside the judiciary in the commission to probe audio leaks,\u201d the minister added.<\/p>\n
The CJP had rejected that commission because his mother-in-law\u2019s audio call was also under the probe, he alleged. \u201cWe expected that the chief justice would keep himself out of this[matter] to ensure justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
The minister underlined that an impression was being given that the audio calls were recorded via the bugging of telephones or devices.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne can hack phone devices while sitting in the UK or abroad. There is no listening device required for it. International hackers are doing this. Many superpowers like the US had faced breaches of information by the hacking of international hackers,\u201d he maintained, meanwhile, dismissing the impression that the alleged audio leaks were taped indigenously.<\/p>\n
A committee was formed[ by the NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf] on the alleged audio leak of the former chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar\u2019s son, he said. \u201cSaqib Nisar\u2019s son was found dealing with the distribution of PTI tickets for the elections of Punjab Assembly that were not held on May 14,\u201d he alleged. The minister apprised the house that MNA Aslam Bhootani was the chair of that committee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Tuesday has asked Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial to \u201cdistance himself\u201d from hearing the audio leaks case to ensure that true justice is served to the aggrieved. He was referring to a five-member bench order of the apex court, headed by the chief justice, which stayed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332182,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-334311","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n