A day after two Supreme Court judges criticised the federal government over a “mala fide” reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Prime Minister Imran Khan has been accused of seeking lawyers’ help for the removal of Supreme Court judge Qazi Faez Isa.
The claim was made by former Supreme Court Bar Association chairman Yasin Azad in a comment to Voicepk.net.
Azad said the prime minister had met a delegation of the lawyers last month, wherein he allegedly asked them to help him get rid of Justice Isa. He alleged that Justice Isa’s free-spirited attitude “upsets” the government.
During the meeting, the PM also vowed to teach Mir Shakilur Rehman, the owner of Geo, a lesson. Shakilur Rahman is behind bars in a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for over six months now in a case pertaining to allotment of plots 34 years ago.
The media mogul was called to the NAB office in Lahore in March for submitting his answers to the questionnaire attached with a call-up notice and was subsequently arrested. A reference has also been filed against him and other accused by the NAB chief earlier this year.
NAB has come under increasing criticism for acting against the critics of the Imran Khan-led government during the past couple of years.
On July 20, 2020, Pakistan’s Supreme Court, in an 87-page decision, ruled that NAB had violated the rights to a fair trial and due process in the arrest of two opposition politicians, Khawaja Saad Rafique and Salman Rafique, whom the NAB detained for 15 months without reasonable grounds.
NAB, however, says it is independent in its decision-making process.
