The government on Friday expressed ‘satisfaction’ over the Supreme Court’s verdict wherein it quashed the presidential reference filed against Justice Qazi Faez Isa.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar said that the government is ‘satisfied’ with the Supreme Court’s decision, adding that they will not file an appeal against it. “[The judgement] is not a victory or defeat for anyone… it happens in democracy and it is constitutional scheme of matters,” Akbar told a press conference, while emphasising that the government including Prime Minister Imran Khan hold superior judiciary and its independence in high regards.
The PM’s aide said the apex court has quashed the presidential reference against Justice Isa but it has referred the matter to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). “Now the FBR will be required to compile the report on assets of Justice Isa’s family members and submit report in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC),” he said, adding that the SJC will review the report and if Justice Isa is found involved in the case, appropriate action will be taken against him under Article 209.
Akbar said that there are three scenarios in which a judge can be questioned. “First, a person or department in possession of any information can send it directly to the SJC. Second, the government, through the president, can send a reference to the SJC. Third, the SJC takes suo motu notice,” he said.
Akbar said that it is only the SJC which has the domain to investigate matters relating to the superior judiciary. “You can inform them, but you can’t inquire […] on the basis of this a reference was sent [against Justice Isa],” he said.
He said that the purpose behind sending a presidential reference to the SJC was not because the government wished for a particular outcome. “Since day one, we have believed that matters concerning judges should be examined by the SJC. The executive and the administration should not be involved in this,” he said, adding that the involvement is severed the minute the information is handed over.
The PM’s aide stated that for the past 13 months, government officials, himself, and the government’s counsel Farogh Naseem had held back from commenting on the case for a particular reason. “These were legal proceedings and questions were asked. We remained silent not because we didn’t have any answers, but the purpose was to not engage in any controversy,” he said, adding that the purpose of holding this press conference is to set the record straight.
“When the short order was announced, there was an atmosphere created as if this was a win for someone and a loss for someone else. This is not the case. This is the process that happens in democratic societies in the constitutional scheme of things,” he said, adding that he has perused the SC’s order and found no mention of the word ‘mala fide’. “I have read the judgement […] you will not find mala fide. So many people said things about the Asset Recovery Unit (ARU), I have not found any mention of it in the order so this also needed to be clarified,” he added.
Akbar said that the during the proceedings, the government was offered to send the matter to the FBR, adding that the prime minister has also raised no objections to this. “However, the petitioner didn’t agree to this. We just had one request that we wanted it to be time-bound,” he added.
