Supreme Court seeks reply from AG over Justice Isa’s wife affidavit

Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmed on Wednesday told Attorney General Khalid Jawed Khan that Sarina Isa – wife of Justice Faez Isa – had also submitted her affidavit and levelled serious allegations against Shahzad Akbar and Abdul Waheed Dogar.

According to 24NewsHD TV channel, the chief justice directed the attorney general to submit a reply reading the allegations, as the court indicted the accused, Iftikharuddin, in the case.

Shahzad is the special assistant to the PM on accountability while it was Dogar whose complaint was used to prepare and file the presidential reference against Justice Faez.

The remarks were made as the two-member Supreme Court bench was hearing the case pertaining to the threatening and insulting video involving ABC.

When asked by the chief justice whether he has gone through the affidavit, the attorney general said he didn’t receive any; however, he would submit his reply after seeing that later as the matter was currently sub judice.

During the hearing, Chief Justice Gulzar expressed his annoyance over the reports presented by the FIA and CTD in the video case. What these departments are doing, he asked Khalid and observed that there was nothing solid in the documents.

The other member of the bench, Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, addressed the accused and remarked that he was using the language while sitting on the pulpit which no educated person could do.

Earlier, Justice Faez Isa too had raised some serious questions about Shahzad and Dogar in an application submitted before the Supreme Court in connection with the presidential reference filed against him.

He questioned in which organisation and in what capacity the complainant, Dogar, worked and said no information has been shared about Dogar’s place of residence and his family.

The application mentioned that Shahzad was made the head of Asset Recovery Unit illegally. It also questioned whether he revealed the assets owned by him or his family and asked if he was a Pakistani national or a dual-nationality holder.

Justice Faez described Shahzad as a fraudster and cheater who, he added, collected information about his family illegally.

He said Shahzad had nothing to do with the present government as there is no office of a special assistant in the Constitution.

According to Justice Faez, the special assistant used the state and state institutions wrongly while the president had himself stated that the reference was compiled by the law minister and the attorney general.

SCBA files review petition

INP adds: Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Wednesday filed a review petition against the verdict of Justice Qazi Faez Isa case in the Supreme Court.

The SCBA petition requests the Supreme Court to remove paragraphs 3 to 11 of June 19 decision. President of Pakistan, the federal government and Supreme Judicial Council have been made respondents in the petition.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Supreme Court has rejected the presidential reference against Justice Isa. The short verdict was announced by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, leading the 10-judge full court bench hearing the case.

The case was wrapped up after Justice Isa’s spouse provided the money trail pertaining to her foreign properties and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) provided its input on the matter.

The full court has also withdrawn the show-cause notice against Justice Isa.

Seven judges referred the matter to the FBR for tax proceedings against Justice Isa’s wife and children, however, three judges Justice Baqar, Justice Mansoor and Justice Yahya did not endorse majority view to refer the matter to FBR.