Audio leaks commission: CJP wants to know who records audios
- By Raja Mohsin Ijaz -
- Jun 06, 2023
ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial on Tuesday asked Attorney General of Pakistan Mansoor Awan who and from where audios are being leaked?, ARY News reported.
At the outset of the hearing, the CJP remarked the judge could not become a party in any way.
“The contempt matter lies between court and contemnor,” CJP Bandial remarked after a petitioner named Hanif Rahi Advocate, told the bench that no diary number had been allotted to his contempt of court petition.
Attorney General for Pakistan Mansoor Awan took to the rostrum and read the objection raised by the government regarding the composition of the bench.
The CJP then inquired, “On which point you would like to talk”. He told the AGP that he was missing one thing, adding: “The chief justice of Pakistan is a constitutional position and no one could take its charge or use it on the basis of assumptions”.
Read more: SC registrar’s office raises objections to contempt plea in audio leaks commission
Justice Akhtar said a senior member of the cabinet made a press conference on the audios while the government was yet to determine their authenticity. He said if it was correct to raise objection to the bench when the reality of the audios was elusive.
Why had the interior minister held the presser? Justice Akhtar questioned, adding that the minister should resign for making statements without verifying the authenticity of the audios.
At which, the AGP said the statement of a minister could be taken as a viewpoint of the government. He later said he was not aware of such a press conference.
At one point, the chief justice asked: “Has the government used its resources to unearth where these recordings are being made?”.
“The question is this who has planted these audios,” he said while asking if the government has tried to trach the elements behind these recordings.
AGP said the government will look into this matter through the inquiry commission.
Later the hearing was adjourned by the SC after extending stay order on the working of the commission.
Minister asks CJP to ‘recuse himself’ from hearing audio leaks case
Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif asked Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial to “distance himself” from hearing the audio leaks case to ensure that “true justice is served to the aggrieved.”
Speaking on the National Assembly floor, the defence minister expressed his opinion on the ‘wedge between the judiciary and the parliament’ continuing for more than a year, creating political unrest in the country.
He reiterated the government had only intended by constituting the judicial commission, which included the members of the judiciary, to ensure transparency in court’s proceedings.
Background
A five-member bench order of the apex court, headed by the chief justice, stayed the proceedings on various petitions challenging the constitution of the judicial commission formed by the federal government, tasked to inquire about the veracity of audio leaks allegedly involving the SC judge and a relative of the top judge.
The commission was headed by the most senior judge of the Supreme Court after the CJP, Justice Qazi Faez Isa. It also compromised of Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Balochistan High Court Chief Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.