Justice Isa skips CJP’s dinner arranged to remove wedge among judges

In order to remove differences and create harmony among judges of the Supreme Court, the chief justice of Pakistan hosted a dinner in their honour last night in Islamabad, reported 24NewsHD TV on Tuesday.

The dinner was attended by all 14 judges of the apex court except Justice Qazi Faez Isa who tops the list of seniority and is set to replace Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial who is going to retire in September this year. 

According to sources, CJP Bandial tried to reach out to his fellow judges in a bid to end division in the Supreme Court following the controversy started with the suo motu notice taken by the chief justice of the delay in elections to Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies and later the ruling regarding holding of polls by a trimmed bench of the apex court headed by the CJP. 

Many of the Supreme Court judges including Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Mansoor Ali Shah wrote dissenting notes, saying that the suo motu notice was taken by the CJP in haste and it was unjustified.

CJP Bandial started the fence-mending process last month. He held several separate meetings with the Supreme Court judges in a bid to end the rift among them.

Reporter Amanat Gishkori