Judges’ detention: FIA inquiry team fails to fix responsibility

Report says civil officials do not accept that the top court’s judges were detained.

ISLAMABAD:

The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) inquiry team has not been able to determine who actually issued orders for judges’ detention following proclamation of emergency by General (retired) Pervez Musharraf seven years ago.

According to the FIA report submitted in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, the three-member FIA team interviewed the then chief commissioner Islamabad, as well as interior and law secretaries.

The officials, however, did not accept that judges were actually detained in their homes. They only said judges’ security was tightened upon announcement of emergency rule.

During the probe, the FIA investigators could not extract information from Islamabad police officials deployed in the judges’ colony. These policemen had allegedly removed the national flag perched atop the residence of then chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

All the police officials refused and stated that they could not monitor the national flag incident. A number of low-ranking police officials, however, confessed that judges were not happy with Islamabad police and on the instructions of high ups they remained posted in the judges’ colony, the report says.

Islamabad’s former chief commissioner Sardar Hamid Ali told the inquiry team that he received a promulgation order of emergency from the interior secretary’s office. He said he did not receive any verbal or written instruction to detain the Supreme Court’s judges.

He said he heard on media that the emergency was announced and judges were detained in their residences.

He said an official of the capital administration informed him that Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah had held a meeting with acting inspector general and Islamabad deputy commissioner in his office to resolve the matter of eviction of judges from their residences.

However, according to the report, the chief commissioner Ali formally denied any administration role in the eviction of judges from their residences.

Hamid Ali said eviction of Justice Ramday from his residence was also an act that was carried out without taking the administration into confidence. He said the interior ministry had also denied its role in it.

The official claimed that due to proclamation of emergency and heightened security situation, officers of other intelligence agencies were also involved in administrative matters and civil officers had no control over the situation. However, he added, he could not name the officers concerned.

Ali said access to judges was allowed by the magistrate and police officer on duty but were accompanied by officers of various security agencies.

According to the interior secretary, he came to know about the proclamation of emergency through media and press and due to security concern, the security for judges was further heightened.

He said the incident of forceful entry into Justice Ramday’s residence was probed by a top official of Islamabad administration but he could not remember the disposal of the inquiry.

“Similarly, he cannot recollect the decision that was taken in the meeting in his office with the chief commissioner and others regarding eviction of judges of Supreme Court from their residences,” say the inquiry report.

He further stated that he would not contest the statements/views of field officers of Islamabad administration regarding detention of judges and presence of officials of security agencies as they were on the spot and he was in his office.

He also denied having ever met Sharifuddin Pirzada, the then law adviser to the prime minister, on any related issue.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 18^th, 2014.