FIR registered over 'threatening letters' to eight IHC judges

ISLAMABAD: A first information report (FIR) was registered over suspected threatening letters sent to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges on Tuesday, ARY News reported.

The FIR was registered on the complaint of IHC clerk Qadeer Ahmed at the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) police station.

In his complaint, Ahmed said that he distributed at least eight letters placed in envelopes addressed to IHC judges.

However, court employee Qamar Khursheed in a telephone call warned him against opening the envelopes, saying that they contained a chemical, he added.

According to the complainant, all of the readers at the court were then advised to not open the envelopes.

He went on to add that “white powder” was found in the envelopes after four of them were opened later.

Ahmed said that the contents in envelopes had critcised the justice system while referring to the “Tehreek-e-Namoos-e-Pakistan”.

Earlier today, as many as eight judges, including the Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court, reportedly received letters containing ‘anthrax’.

According to court sources, one of the letters was opened by a judge’s staff and was found to contain an unidentified powder.

A team of experts from the Islamabad Police reached the premises of the Islamabad High Court to analyse the situation upon discovery of the suspicious substance.

The primary focus of the investigation revolves around determining the nature of the powder and its potential threat.

Court sources disclosed that along with the powder, the letters also contain threatening signs.

As per sources within the court, the letter was written by a woman named Resham, with no specific address indicated.

The IHC came under the spotlight after six of its serving judges penned a letter to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), urging it to summon a judicial convention to review the matter of “interference of intelligence agencies with judicial functions”.

IHC top judges – including Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Baqir Sattar, Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir, and Justice Salman Rafat Imtiaz – penned the letter to SJC in the aftermath of Supreme Court’s March 22 judgement on Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui’s dismissal case.

A day earlier, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Qazi Faez Isa took suo moto notice of IHC judges’ letter in which they alleged interference by intelligence agencies.

The Supreme Court’s seven-member larger bench including Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Jamal Mandokhail, Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan will conduct a hearing on the case on Wednesday.