Justice Kayani urges CJP, SC bench head to visit IHC to resolve internal issues

Islamabad High Court (IHC) senior puisne judge Mohsin Akhtar Kayani has said the chief justice of Pakistan, Yahya Afridi, and the head of the SC constitutional bench (CB), Justice Aminuddin Khan, should come to the IHC and sit with its judges to understand the situation there.

"This will resolve all issues, including internal problems within the court," Justice Kayani said on Tuesday while speaking to journalists after a Supreme Court hearing.

Five IHC judges — Kayani, Babar Sattar, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan and Saman Rafat Imtiaz — attended both the Monday and Tuesday proceedings — conducted by a five-member CB — of petitions filed against an IHC order.

An IHC division bench led by Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar on September 16 stopped Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri from performing his duties as it began proceedings on a quo warranto petition accusing him of holding a dubious LLB degree.

On September 19, five IHC judges, including Justice Jahangiri, went to the Supreme Court in person to file separate constitutional petitions, making eleven different prayers, including one seeking the quashing of the IHC order barring Jahangiri from judicial work.

The CB on Tuesday quashed the IHC interim order. After securing brief relief from the CB, the five IHC judges responded to questions from journalists.

Justice Kayani told reporters that the IHC judges felt as if they were standing in the dock like accused persons. When asked whether judges should form a union, Justice Kayani said it was not about creating a union to pressure someone.