Fault-lines on judicial horizon

It is a moment of injustice to a justice. Barring a judge from performing his duties through a judicial order is ultra vires, and infructuous in essence. It has simply laid bare the chasm among the Brother Judges — enough for the superior judiciary to lose its credibility in the eyes of the public. Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri has been in the eye of the storm since his educational degree was cancelled in 2024 over allegations of being fake.

Despite a suspension order in vogue from Sindh High Court, the sudden move by a Divisional Bench of Islamabad High Court to restrain him from work raises suspicion. Since Justice Jahangiri's petition is under review at Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), the fissures against him seem vindictive as he is also a signatory against the elevation of the IHC's top judge.

Justice Jahangiri's exit from the roster has incidentally come on the heels of two other developments wherein Justice Babar Sattar shunted out PTA Chairman Maj Gen (retd) Hafeezur Rehman by pronouncing his appointment as illegal, and Advocate Imaan Mazari-Hazir approaching the SJC against IHC chief justice after the court stripped Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz of her powers to entertain harassment complaints when she took cognisance of a plea against the IHC chief justice.

Though unrelated in lawful premise, the coincidence hints at judicial activism on the part of the Court and the Lords, underling the fault-lines on the judicial horizon. For many it could be a tit-for-tat as a momentum is underway among 'thinking' judges to assert themselves and let the independence of judiciary take its due course, supposedly undermined after the 26th constitutional amendment. The flooring of Justice Jahangiri and Justice Saman are extra-constitutional acts, and could stir anarchy within the judiciary. Let the Lords and the law be on their own, and measures to subdue the superior judiciary be checked in wider national interest.