CJP back in action to revive ‘pre-May 9 position’
Documents released in the last two days suggest that the Supreme Court chaired by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) is trying to revive its narrative as the May 9 violence, which was triggered by the arrest of Tehreek-e- Insaf Pakistan (PTI Chairman).The May 9 chaos has even pushed the judiciary, which has been desperately trying to call the Punjab Assembly elections on May 14, to the defense.
Eventually, they had no choice but to restrain themselves in matters where tensions between the judiciary and other institutions, especially parliament, the executive, security agencies, and so on, increased. It is now pointed out that CJP Umar Ata Bandial filed a petition challenging the formation of a federal commission of inquiry headed by Justice SC Qazi Faez Isa to probe the rumors regarding the judge.
As the audio leak commission hearing continues, CJP Bandial wonders who is spreading the audio on social media. The bench allowed Shoaib Shaheen, counsel for one of the petitioners, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Abid Zuberi, to raise his argument that the disclosure was made on social media after the SC order issued on 16 February in which the CJP was required to exercise its suo motu jurisdiction over the delay. Assembly elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).
Lawyers have even criticized the “role” of government agencies to “publish” online noise. Surprisingly, members of the bench are silent on his arguments.
The bench upheld its decision on the central government’s plea barring three judges, including the CJP, from the noise commission case due to conflict of interest. The CJP, however, argued that the matter pertained to the independence of the judiciary and the principle of threefold devolution was violated by his non-appearance in his office to appoint judges to the commission of inquiry.
