Gharida Farooqi levels serious allegations against IHC’s six judges

ISLAMABAD: Gharida Farooqi, a journalist and anchor has brought attention to a letter written by Islamabad High Court (IHC) six judges to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) against alleged interference by executive and intelligence agencies in judicial matters.

In a tweet, Gharida said that if the esteemed judges had previously raised this issue with former Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, and Justice Bandial’s affiliation seemed biased towards a specific political party, but even then, if Justice Bandial did not give importance to the allegations and did not conduct any investigation, it implies that the accusations are baseless, unjust, and frivolous.

The letter from these esteemed judges reportedly reached the High Court later and was initially delivered to a specific political party, she wrote on X. She raised serious questions about how this happened.

Read more: IHC Judges raise concerns over intelligence agency interference in judicial cases

Furthermore, Farooqi added that since a recently resigned judge faced accountability, other judges seemingly lost sleep and became involved in back-and-forth accusations. Such letters could be an attempt to divert attention from other actions, possibly by intelligence agencies aware of their shady dealings.

“Notably, Judge Babar Sattar and his entire family are American citizens. Shouldn’t it be questioned how an American citizen became a judge in Pakistan? How many of these six judges are affiliated with a particular political party? How many of them seemingly show a clear bias towards a specific political figure and want to relieve them of legal obligations?” Gharidah Farooqi said.

Additionally, she maintained that following the Shaukat Siddiqui case, it appears that their confidence increased that judges cannot be touched.

“Those who making allegations must prove them. If they fail, all of them should be relieved of their duties and sent to jail. Such irresponsibility from these officials should not be tolerated at all. And it should not be allowed that more people become cults and attack the state. They should really be punished!” Farooqi said.