Govt clarifies Sanaullah’s statement on filing reference against two SC judges

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar clarified on Thursday that the premier’s aide, Rana Sanaullah, never talked about filing a reference against Supreme Court judges except for presenting his point of view on “misconduct” by some of the judges amid growing tensions over the nomination and transfer of senior jurists.

Sanaullah, the prime minister’s adviser on political and public affairs, hinted at filing a reference against two senior apex court judges two days ago who, according to him, were committing “misconduct” by “writing letters on every issue containing critical remarks” and “leaking it to the media”.

However, the premier’s adviser clarified his statement while speaking on Geo News’ programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’, saying that his remarks of filing a reference against the judges were neither an announcement nor a threat.

When questioned about a potential reference against SC judges Thursday, Tarar told journalists at the parliament that the government has not given any statement about such a move and it would apprise the media if it takes any decision.

“Chief Justice [Yahya Afridi] is also head of the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan,” said the law minister, “[…] and also heads the rule of law programme.” He added that Pakistani jurists used to attend different connections in this regard.

To another question, Tarar replied that CJP Afridi did not meet the International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation in connection with any case but as the head of the Pakistani judiciary.

Meanwhile, PMLN Parliamentary Leader in the Senate Irfan Siddiqui said he did not know about any thinking in the government for bringing any reference against any judge.

“I do not know about the thinking within the government with regard to the reference and neither Rana Sanaullah Khan talked about any thinking within the government about bringing any reference,” he said while talking to the media here Thursday.

Responding to a question, Senator Irfan Siddiqui said everyone knows about the two judges against whom the talk about reference was being discussed. He said politicians used to walk out and boycott but he has never seen the boycott of judges as usually if the judges do not want to sit in a bench, they recuse themselves. “Has any judge in the past walked out like this,” he questioned.

In response to another question, he did not see any threat to the government from the opposition alliance and said that those are sitting with the PTI should ask from the PTI about its position on civil disobedience. “Does the opposition parties support the PTI’s position on civil obedience and protests like of May 9 and November 26, “ he asked from the other opposition parties.

Irfan Siddiqui also asked the opposition parties if they would support the kind of protest which PTI used to and would they support writing a dossier to the IMF and writing letters to the United States.