Illegal removal

It has been a long journey for former Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui in his quest for justice. But with the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday declaring Justice Siddiqui's dismissal as “illegal”, he has somewhat been vindicated. Justice Siddiqui had filed a petition requesting the apex court to cancel the dismissal notification issued against him as an IHC judge. A five-member bench of the Supreme Court observed that the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) ignored the requirement of fair trial and due process under Article 10-A of the constitution while recommending Siddiqui’s removal from office for misconduct. The top court nullified the SJC decision as well as the then-president’s notification on Siddiqui's dismissal. The judgment has said that Justice Siddiqui should be considered a retired judge of the IHC and will be entitled to all benefits and pension. It also noted that the allegations made by the former IHC judge against former ISI chief Gen (r) Faiz Hameed and a few of his subordinates were “very serious”. Justice Siddiqui was removed from his position in the IHC for his speech at the Rawalpindi Bar Association on July 21, 2018 in which he had accused the intelligence agencies of interfering with judicial matters and manipulating the formation of high court benches. Subsequently, multiple references were filed against him and he was eventually dismissed from his post on October 11, 2018, with then-president Dr Arif Alvi removing him from the post of IHC judge in light of a recommendation by the SJC. Friday's SC verdict has thus come as a late-but-important correction of a wrong done to a sitting judge.

The way everything was done so quickly back in 2018 had raised many an eyebrow. Legal and political observers had asked how the SJC had come to the conclusion in such a hurry that the judge was guilty of misconduct. With the Friday verdict, lawyers have said while it may be too little, too late at least the verdict acknowledges that a wrong was done. However, experts say that while Gen (r) Faiz, former IHC chief justice Anwar Khan Kasi, former registrar of the Supreme Court Arbab Muhammad Arif and retired brigadier Irfan Ramay were issued notices by the court and have denied these allegations, there should be a proper investigation. Some are of the opinion that either the judiciary initiates an investigation into these allegations or the government carries out an investigation. Siddiqui says he is ready for an investigation and stands by his allegations. In any case, if a judge suffered a blow to his career because he made serious allegations that intelligence agencies were involved in bench-fixing and verdicts and other judicial matters, the matter must be investigated.

In one of the hearings in December 2023, Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa raised an important question: when all these people were allegedly facilitating someone, who was the beneficiary? Many talk about the launch of Project Imran and how PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif was ousted to make way for Imran Khan’s government but they add that the real beneficiary was the hybrid system that has now replaced the democratic system.