PPP’s Farhatullah Babar welcomes SC decision to hear intra-court appeal in Afiya Shehrbano case

ISLAMABAD: PPP’s Human Rights Cell President and former senator Farhatullah Babar on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the intra-court appeal challenging the court’s June 2023 decision in Afiya Shehrbano case, saying it is a step forward, albeit a small one, in ensuring the accountability of judges.

The Afiya Shehrbano case was based on a reference filed in 2018 by civil society activists concerned about the judicial accountability against the then chief justice while still in office.

The reference, however, was not heard by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) as long as the chief justice held the office. After his retirement, the reference was shelved and declared infructuous.

Subsequently, an appeal against the Supreme Judicial Council’s decision was also rejected by a two-member bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Munib Akhtar and now retired Justice Ijazul Ahsan in June 2023 who held that the judges who retire or resign do not fall within the ambit of Article 209 aimed at accountability of judges.

However, the two-member bench’s verdict was challenged recently by the attorney general to pursue a reference filed against another judge Justice Mazahir Ali Akbar Naqvi in the Supreme Judicial Council even after his resignation.

Farhatullah Babar said that the civil society petitioners had raised fundamental questions about the accountability of judges, an answer to which will ensure the accountability of all.

He argued that the question is whether the SJC’s indecisiveness on a reference filed before it till the judge in question retired and then declaring it as infructuous did not make Article 209 of the Constitution that determines misconduct of judges as redundant, making the accountability of judges impossible.

He said they also asked whether the accountability body of judges is not required to decide each and every matter that is filed before it.

“They also raised questions about the denial of right to information as the Council gave them no information for two months until the petitioners themselves asked about the fate of the reference,” he said.

Welcoming the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the intra-court appeal, the PPP leader said that ensuring the accountability of judges will also strengthen voice demanding the accountability of security establishment, which too has refused any attempt to hold it accountable.

The petitioners in Afiya Shehrbano case included late journalist M Ziauddin, late Rubina Saigol, Senator Afrasiab Khattak, Farhatullah Babar, Bushra Gohar, Nighat Said Khan, Farida Shaheed and other civil society activists.