SCBA to challenge presidential reference against two judges in SC

ISLAMABAD: As Justice Qazi Faez Isa is going to challenge in the Supreme Court the presidential reference filed against him, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) will also file the petition in the apex court under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, challenging the reference filed against two judges of the superior courts.

“Whenever, Justice Qazi Faez Isa filed the petition in the Supreme Court, we will also file next day, petition in the Supreme Court, challenging the presidential references,” SCBA President Aman Ullah Kanrani confirmed to The News.

He said that senior lawyers including former presidents of the Supreme Court Bar Association will be taken on the panel for arguing before the apex court in the said petition. He said that Article 184(3) of the Constitution will be invoked while filing the petition adding that the presidential references will be challenged on the grounds of mala fide intention.

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) is going to hold an important meeting on August 7 in Quetta which will attended by incumbent cabinet and its previous presidents to develop consensus on invoking Article 184(3) of the Constitution and to file a petition in the Supreme Court.

According to Rashid A Rizvi, senior lawyer and former president of Supreme Court Bar Association as the third anniversary of Quetta carnage being held on August 8 in Quetta, senior lawyers of the country including the incumbent office bearers of the Supreme Court Bar Association from across the country as well as its former presidents will be sitting on August 7 to deliberate upon filing a petition in the Supreme Court.

On August 8, 2016, a deadly terrorist attack in Quetta claimed 70 lives and injured as many as 112 people after powerful explosion ripped through Civil Hospital in Quetta when Balochistan Bar Association President Bilal Kasi's body was being brought to the emergency department. Kasi was gunned down in a targeted killing earlier that day.

Later on the Supreme Court constituted a one-member inquiry commission headed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa who in his findings, slammed the federal interior minister, the Balochistan chief minister and provincial home minister for providing misleading information following a deadly terrorist attack in Quetta.

“We had repeatedly said that the presidential reference was filed against Justice Qazi Faez Isa, senior judge of the Supreme Court on mala fide intention and have demanded its withdrawal, hence the legal fraternity will be deliberating upon filing of a petition in the Supreme Court from the platform of Supreme Court Bar Association”, Rizvi told The News.

He said that senior lawyers of the country will be taken on board and after developing consensus, the presidential reference, filed against Justice Qazi Faez Isa will be challenged in the Supreme Court by invoking Article 184(3) of the Constitution and on the grounds of mala fide intention.

Former president Supreme Court Bar Association and prominent figure of lawyers’ movement, Ali Ahmed Kurd expressed his resolve to be part of the panel of lawyers, if he was invited so. Talking to The News from Quetta, he said that the legal fraternity is determined to protect the judiciary and believes in supremacy of the constitution.

It is pertinent to mention here that senior lawyers and Members of Pakistan Bar Council including former presidents Supreme Court Bar Association Rashid A Rizvi, Kamran Murtaza as well as other senior lawyers including Azam Nazir Tararh and Akhtar Hussian the other day requisitioned a resolution in the Council, suggesting for filing a petition in the Supreme Court invoking Article 184(3) of the Constitution challenging the presidential reference filed against Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice KK Agha.

“Whereas the legal fraternity is unanimous of the view that the government is bent upon subduing the independence of judiciary and so has filed the references against the upright, honest and very competent two judges of the superior courts, which if not checked and strongly opposed, there is every likelihood that the government may continue to attack the independent judiciary to achieve its ulterior designs, says the resolution.

The resolution had authorised Syed Amjad Shah, Vice Chairman and Hafiz Muhammad Idrees, Chairman Executive Committee of the Pakistan Bar Council to file the petition and also to authorise a counsel to represent the Pakistan Bar Council.

According to Vice Chairman Pakistan Bar Council the resolution will be shared with other 20 members of the Pakistan Bar Council and if consensus were developed, the instant petition will be filed accordingly.