Pak anti-terrorism court judge claims spy agency ISI is harassing him and his family

Laura:

An anti-terrorism court judge, while hearing cases relating to attacks on military installations in May last year by workers from former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party, accused Pakistan’s powerful intelligence agency, ISI, of harassing him and their family members to obtain the desired verdicts.

Justice (Sargodha) Muhammad Abbas wrote a letter to the Chief Judge of the Lahore High Court, Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan, informing him how officials of the spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) harassed him and his family members.

The judge has been hearing cases against opposition leader in Parliament Omar Ayub and other workers from Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in connection with attacks on military installations in May last year.

Ayub alleged that last week, at a hearing in a case in Sargodha, ATC judge Abbas was taken hostage by intelligence agencies.

In March, six judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) contacted the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) reporting alleged intrusion by intelligence agents into judicial matters.

The six judges – out of a total of eight – wrote a letter to the members of the Superior Council of the Judiciary, about alleged attempts to pressure judges through the kidnapping and torture of their families, as well as secret surveillance inside their homes.

All IHC judges also unanimously acknowledged that intelligence agencies are interfering in their judicial functions.

The judges accused the intelligence officers of coercing them to extract the desired verdicts in the case of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and other PTI leaders. Khan has been in prison since August last year in several cases.

The Supreme Court has sought proposals from the higher courts on how to protect the independence of the judiciary from interference by intelligence agencies.

On the ATC judge’s allegations, Lahore High Court Chief Judge Ahmad Khan summoned Punjab Inspector General of Police Dr Usman Anwar on Thursday.

“In today’s hearing, IGP Anwar told LHC that the police have launched an investigation into ‘serious threats’ made to the ATC judge,” a court official told PTI on Thursday.

The LHC CJ asked the IGP why the roads leading to Sargodha ATC, about 200 km from Lahore, were closed by the police when the judge refused to receive an ISI officer. The IGP said: “Roads were closed as the judge faced serious threats.” The chief justice reserved the verdict on the alleged harassment of the ATC judge by the ISI.

Khan’s party strongly condemned the incident in which leader of the opposition in the National Assembly and central general secretary of PTI, Omar Ayub, along with other members of Parliament, were prevented from entering ATC Sargodha by the unelected and mandate-stealing government .

“As part of a malicious and well-thought-out conspiracy to coerce the judiciary into taking decisions of their choosing,” a PTI spokesperson said.

He said the mandate stealer Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had a long history of armed attacks on courts to force judges to make favorable decisions, adding that this move was seen as a blatant attempt to intimidate the judiciary and prevent it from make justice.

He said the aim of preventing the NA opposition leader and other MPs from entering the court was to coerce the court into ruling at gunpoint while denying justice to public representatives.

“The trend of holding judges hostage and occupying the courts is being used as a new tactic to prevent the courts from delivering justice, as such blatant interference in judicial matters has already been described by six judges of the Islamabad High Court in your letter,” he said. he said.

(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)