The Senate on Friday passed with majority vote a resolution denouncing the filing of reference by the government against two superior court judges before the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).
“While supporting across-the-board accountability, the Senate feels that these targeted references are malafide and politically motivated. They are a direct attack on the independence of judiciary and are aimed at stifling the voices of reason, truth and justice in the highest judiciary,” the resolution noted. “The Senate expresses its full solidarity with the judiciary and bar councils of the country … we are with them in this struggle,” it added.
The resolution moved by Leader of Opposition in Senate Raja Zafarul Haq also demanded the government to withdraw the reference.
However, the treasury benches opposed the resolution. Shibli Faraz said the treasury has not been taken into confidence before tabling the resolution. The treasury members resorted to pandemonium during the passage of the resolution, however it was passed by the House.
A similar resolution was also tabled by opposition members in the National Assembly. “This House expresses grave concern over the filing of reference in the Supreme Judicial Council by the government against some honourable judges of the Supreme Court and high courts in secretive manner without even the knowledge of the judges concerned,” the resolution read.
Earlier, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) decided to hold protest in parliament against the government’s decision to file reference against the judges.
The PML-N’s parliamentary group presided over by Vice President Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Raja Zafarul Haq met at the chamber of the opposition leader. Former speaker Ayaz Sadiq, Rana Tanveer, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Mushahidullah Khan, Rana Sanullah and other PML-N leaders were also present.
The meeting decided the opposition’s strategy against the government’s decision to file reference against the judges. “No one is allowed to attack the judiciary,” Ayaz Sadiq said at the meeting. “We have decided to take a formal point of view against the reference filed by the government. We have every right to protest,” he asserted.
Later, addressing a joint opposition press conference outside the National Assembly, former prime minister and PML-N senior leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi condemned the reference against judges and demanded that they be withdrawn. He said the country’s supreme judiciary is being attacked and a ‘targeted killing’ of the judiciary is taking place.
The PML-N leader said the situation has come to a point where references were filed against superior court judges, and a judge of the Supreme Court had to inquire about the said reference by writing to the president. He alleged that the government has filed the references so that ‘judges are unable to give independent orders, are unable to give decisions against the government, and so that judges and the judiciary are repressed’. “Today, the bar councils, lawyers representatives and the country’s people are all united against this step of this government,” he said. Abbasi said his party has always respected the courts. “The previous chief justice became part of a campaign against us but because of respect for the court, we didn’t speak about references against anyone,” he said. “Today references are being made in the darkness of the night,” he said, adding that no one has any knowledge about the references and what the due process for these was. “The only one purpose of these things is to repress the judiciary, [so that] judiciary gives favourable verdicts and [so that] judges with independence and integrity be defamed.”
Abbasi said that information is being leaked about the judges on the media, including details of properties in newspapers. He asked who shared these details and for what purpose. “This is a conspiracy against the judiciary … and we will make it unsuccessful,” he said, adding that the opposition is with the legal fraternity on the issue.
Addressing the joint press conference, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto said that no one was informed about the reference filed against the judges, including the country’s representatives in the parliament and the judges against whom the reference was filed. “They filed the reference in secret,” Bilawal said, adding that this shows the government’s intentions. “These are the remnants of Musharraf [era] and are adopting the same approach,” he said.
“They are trying to make a selected judiciary,” the PPP leader said, adding that the approach used by Interior Minister Brig (r) Ijaz Shah against the opposition and judiciary during Musharraf era is being also adopted in the ‘Naya Pakistan’.
