ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa Thursday said that if the court’s verdict on the 2017 sit-in at Islamabad’s Faizabad Chowk had been implemented, “serious incidents” in future could have been averted.
He observed that if this verdict was implemented at that time, serious incidents would not have taken place later. He was leading a three-member bench which heard a set of review petitions challenging the top court’s verdict in the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) sit-in. The three-member bench included Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Athar Minallah.
During the hearing, several petitioners including the PTI joined the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to withdraw their pleas, prompting the CJP to ask why “everyone is so afraid”. The hearing was however, adjourned to November 1.
Justice Qazi Faez Isa, years before he took oath as the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP), had instructed the defence ministry and the tri-services chiefs to penalise personnel under their command who were found to have violated their oath. He had also directed the federal government to monitor those advocating hate, extremism and terrorism and prosecute them under the law.
Adverse observations were also made against several public departments for causing inconvenience to the public as the 20-day sit-in paralysed life in both Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Subsequently, pleas were moved against the verdict by the Ministry of Defence, the IB, the PTI, PEMRA, the Election Commission of Pakistan, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid and another senior politician Ijazul Haq, son of former military ruler Ziaul Haq.
Sheikh Rashid, via Advocate Mehr Khan Malik, also requested the Supreme Court to adjourn the hearing. His plea stated that since the AML chief Sheikh Rashid’s counsel, Amanullah Kanrani, had taken over the charge of the Balochistan law minister, he was not in a position to appear before the apex court.
Accepting Rashid’s counsel’s plea to adjourn the hearing, the Supreme Court adjourned it till November 1 and directed the respondents’ counsels to submit a written response by October 27.
