Ex-IHC judge tells CJP he’s facing ‘financial constraints’

Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui writes to Justice Bandial, asks him for a daily hearing on his case

ISLAMABAD:

Former Islamabad High Court judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui on Tuesday wrote a letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, requesting that his case be disposed of as quickly as possible as he was facing “financial constraints”.

“I hope to see a verdict in my case during my lifetime,” he added.

Siddiqui had moved the Supreme Court against his removal from the post of an IHC judge.

President Arif Alvi had ousted Siddiqui as a judge on Oct 11, 2018 after the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) recommended his removal for being guilty of misconduct over a speech he delivered in July that year before the Rawalpindi District Bar Association.

While speaking at the Rawalpindi bar, Siddiqui had reportedly claimed that personnel of the country’s premier intelligence agency were manipulating judicial proceedings.

In November last year, the enrolment committee of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), led by Justice Qazi Faez Isa and comprising Syed Qalb-e-Hassan and Azam Nazeer Tarar, considered the application of Siddiqui and decided that the applicant was entitled to have his licence restored.

According to a letter written to Siddiqui, the committee had noted that the former judge was not removed by the SJC on account of corruption or an offence involving moral turpitude, which might have disentitled him from the restoration of his licence.

It noted that Article 18 of the Constitution also guaranteed that every citizen had the right to enter any lawful profession or occupation. “Therefore, the licence of Advocate Supreme Court of Mr. Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui is restored with immediate effect," the committee’s letter had read.

Siddiqui wrote in the letter to the CJP that his case should be heard on a daily basis.

Also read: PBC restores practising licence of ex-justice Siddiqui

“It is painful for a person, who spent his whole life for court and advocacy, to approach the judiciary time and again for justice.”

The former IHC judge noted that his petition had been pending for a long time. “Delay in justice is justice denied. If I am not receiving justice, then what will happen to the common man?”

He added that he also facing financial difficulties.

Siddiqui pointed out that courts were having a summer vacation from June 13, during which two judges would retire, resulting in the dissolution of the bench.

“I wish that the oppression and abuse that happened to me in my life would be remedied.”

The former judge wrote that he sought justice so that he could rid of himself of the misery that had been going on for four years.

In June last year, Siddiqui had told the apex court that the objective behind his controversial speech – which led to his sacking – was to remove the “undue pressure” from the security establishment on the judiciary.

“Through that speech, I wanted to remove the security apparatus’ pressure on courts. However, my dilemma was that two senior Supreme Court judges – Mian Saqib Nisar and Asif Saeed Khosa – were against me since 2015.”