The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday told the former Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui’s counsel that he must prove whatever the former judge had said in his speech before the Rawalpindi bar in 2018 does not amount to “misconduct”, according to Dawn.
A five-member larger bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood, Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel and Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, heard the case.
On the recommendation of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), Siddiqui was removed as a IHC judge for his July 21, 2018, speech at the District Bar Association, Rawalpindi.
In his speech, Siddiqui had made remarks about the involvement of certain officers of the executive organ of the state, specifically the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), in the affairs of the judiciary to allegedly manipulate the formation of benches of the high court.
During the course of proceedings, petitioner Siddiqui, while expressing confidence in the SC, took a stand that he could not even think that any member of the bench was biased.
He said that he would not blame the judiciary even if the petition is rejected. “I would be the last person to disrespect the judiciary,” he reiterated.
Meanwhile, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, while addressing Siddiqui’s lawyer Hamid Khan, remarked that he had stated that the entire SJC was biased.
He said that the chief justice and the senior judge were accused of biasness in the petition. Hamid Khan said that if a part of the council was biased then the blame fell on the whole body.
Justice Bandial asked Hamid Khan to give factual arguments instead of making serious allegations.
“You must prove that what Siddiqui said in his speech was not misconduct, then [your argument will have weight],” Justice Bandial told Khan.
The SJC gave two chances to Siddiqui to prove the allegations, he added.
He said that the court has also given the opportunity to prove the allegations made in the speech.
Later, the court adjourned hearing of the case to an unspecified date in January.
