LHC orders sending judge’s ‘threats’ plea to SC

The Lahore High Court on Thursday ordered that the matter of an intelligence agency allegedly threatening a judge of an anti-terrorism court (ATC) of Sargodha should be forwarded to the Supreme Court.

According to the reserved verdict, LHC Chief Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan issued show cause notices to the Sargodha RPO, Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) regional officer, DSP and SHO for contempt of court – seeking their explanation by June 27.

He also scheduled the next hearing of the case before LHC’s Justice Shahid Karim.

On June 7, Sargodha ATC Judge Muhammad Abbas in his complaint alleged that a message was conveyed to him on May 25 that an Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officer wanted to meet him in his chamber.

However, the ATC judge added that he had refused to meet the officer.

The judge maintained that following that, he was being subjected to harassment and threats.

The judge further complained that 19 post-arrest bail petitions and trials of nine other cases were fixed before the ATC on June 10, but he was informed that all roads leading to the court had been blocked on account of an alleged threat alert.

After receiving the complaint, the LHC chief justice converted it into a contempt petition.

Justice Shahzad also issued notices to all respondents including the ISI Sargodha sector commander to submit their reports to the court through the additional attorney general as well as Punjab advocate general.