- Apex court likely to discuss ‘revelations’ during a scheduled hearing of an election-related case on Feb 19
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has decided against taking suo motu notice of the ‘revelations’ about rigging in the elections made by the Rawalpindi Commissioner against Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa.
According to sources in the apex court, the decision was taken after a consultation among the judges, including Chief Justice Isa.
The allegations, involving Chief Justice Isa in the alleged poll rigging, were expected to be deliberated upon during a scheduled hearing of an election-related case on February 19.
The sources said that there is a possibility of the Rawalpindi Commissioner’s case being considered within the framework of this pre-arranged case.
A consultative meeting chaired by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa was reportedly convened to address the accusations made by the Rawalpindi Commissioner. The apex court’s judges including Muneeb Akhtar, Yahya Afridi, Ayesha Malik, and Athar Manullah were also present during the deliberations. Following a careful examination of the allegations, the participants decided against taking suo motu notice on the matter.
Meanwhile, CJP Isa, speaking to the media before the meeting, vehemently denied the allegations, labeling them as baseless and devoid of any truth or validity. CJP Isa emphasised the importance of presenting evidence when making such serious accusations and noted that the accuser, in this case, had failed to submit any supporting evidence.
“You level baseless allegations. There is no truth to it nor is evidence presented. You can level allegations all you want, it is your right but present evidence to back it. Whether good or bad, it will be determined later,” the top judge said in reaction to today’s dramatic development.
He went on to say that his role was only restricted to the facilitation of the conduct of elections. “If someone did not want election, that’s another story,” he said.
The CJP questioned his and apex court’s connection to the polls, saying that the court only receive and decide upon petitions linked to elections.
The CJP said that the apex court did not order the elections; instead, it asked both constitutional authorities — the president and the election commission — to stage the elections after arriving at a consensus on the date.
