Supreme Judicial Council Hears References Against Senior Judges, Lawyers Protest

Despite call for a strong resistance, the lawyer community on Friday failed to give tough time as first hearing in connection with references filed by the government against two judges was successfully conducted at the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) in Islamabad on Friday

Islamabad (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th June, 2019) Despite call for a strong resistance, the lawyer community on Friday failed to give tough time as first hearing in connection with references filed by the government against two judges was successfully conducted at the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) in Islamabad on Friday.According to details, the government had filed references against Justice Qazi Faez Isa of the Supreme Court and Justice Karim Khan Agha alias KK Agha of the Sindh High Court for allegedly holding illegal properties in London.The lawyer community had announced protests and sit-ins against the references, but alleged differences between the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) and other bodies barred them to demonstrate a strong protest.A five-member bench comprises Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, Sindh High Court Chief Justice Ahmed Ali and Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmed conducted hearing of the case.The hearing continued for one-and-a-half hours.

In the first meeting the five-member bench made review whether the references have enough proofs, making them eligible for prosecution.Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan tried to convince the five-member council to begin formal proceedings in the references.

However, it was not yet clear whether the council had been convinced by his arguments or not as no formal statement was issued after the hearing.The hearing was held in a closed room. The council was expected to decide the maintainability of the references on Friday evening.Expressing view over their failure to make the movement a success, former Supreme Court Bar president Ali Muhammad Kurd said efforts are being made to make the lawyer movement a failure.

He also said lawyers' appearances in courts or boycott was their own decisions.Supreme Court Bar Association President Amanullah burnt copies of the references to show his support with the judges but it could not hit the sentiments of the lawyers.