JIT formed to probe smear campaign against top judge

Committee to submit report to interior ministry in 15 days

ISLAMABAD:

The Federal Ministry of Interior has formed a joint investigation team (JIT) to investigate an ongoing smear campaign being run on social media against Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Aamer Farooq.

Led by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Cyber Crime Wing director, the four-member team includes officials from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the Investigation Bureau (IB) and the Islamabad Police. The FIA headquarters will also provide requisite facilities to the team.

The JIT will submit its investigation report to the interior ministry within 15 days.

On August 27, the Federal Ministry of Law and Justice on Sunday condemned the “social media attack" on IHC Chief Justice Farooq, declaring it as "utterly reprehensible".

“The social media attack by a political party on chief justice Islamabad High Court is utterly reprehensible. Political parties should refrain from attacking the Institutions of the country,” the ministry said in a rare brief message posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) also strongly condemned the "malicious social media campaign" targeting the judge.

“Justice Farooq, renowned for his unwavering commitment to principles of honesty and competence, has consistently demonstrated these qualities through his impartial and merit based judgments,” it said in a statement also issued on August 27.

While requesting the apex court to transfer all his cases being adjudicated in the IHC to some provincial high courts, PTI chief Imran Khan on August 23 levelled serious allegations against the IHC chief justice, accusing him of "deep and settled bias".

In a petition moved in the Supreme Court, the former prime minister said he is being held in Attock jail after being "convicted on a cooked up and fabricated charge after a 'trial' in gross abuse of due process". Imran primarily blamed the IHC chief justice for this “injustice”.

"More than sufficient incontrovertible evidence is available to establish the deep and settled bias of the CJ IHC towards the petitioner," the application read.

He accused the judge of "endeavouring to do everything to keep the petitioner behind bars with the intent that he be unable to contest the forthcoming elections and thus be ousted from politics." Interestingly, a bench led by Justice Farooq on Tuesday suspended Imran’s sentence in the gifts case.