SC schedules nine other pleas in IHC letter case

Lawyers’ bodies want full court to hear matter

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court has scheduled nine other pleas for hearing in the suo motu case related to the alleged meddling by the country’s security apparatus into judicial affairs.

On March 25 this year, six Islamabad High Court judges wrote a letter to the Supreme Judicial Council seeking guidance to counter the alleged interference of intelligence agencies in their affairs.

On Thursday, the SC released its cause list according to which a new six-member larger bench, headed by CJP Qazi Faez Isa, would take up the case on April 30.

Of the nine applications, one has been filed by the Pakistan Bar Council seeking to become a party in the hearing of the case.

The applications of Advocate Mian Dawood, PPP leader Aitzaz Ahsan, and the Islamabad and Balochistan high court bar associations have also been scheduled for hearing.

The SC has already issued a notice to the attorney general for Pakistan.

In the applications filed by the lawyers’ organisations, it has been requested to form a full court to hear the matter.

However, it is likely that the issue will be decided after the arguments on the pleas filed to form the full court are presented.