Khawaja Asif asks CJP to ‘recuse himself’ from hearing audio leaks case

ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Tuesday has 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”, ARY News reported.  

He was referring to a five-member bench order of the apex court, headed by the chief justice, which 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.

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.

Khawaja Asif regretted that the Apex Court Chief Justice scuttled the senior judge of the Supreme Court and the chief justice of the Balochistan High Court from the Commission. “We had not appointed members of the Parliament or someone outside the judiciary in the commission to probe audio leaks,” the minister added.

The CJP had rejected that commission because his mother-in-law’s audio call was also under the probe, he alleged. “We expected that the chief justice would keep himself out of this [matter] to ensure justice.”

The minister underlined that an impression was being given that the audio calls were recorded via the bugging of telephones or devices.

“One can hack phone devices while sitting in the UK or abroad. There is no listening device required for it. International hackers are doing this. Many superpowers like the US had faced breaches of information by the hacking of international hackers,” he maintained, meanwhile, dismissing the impression that the alleged audio leaks were taped indigenously.

A committee was formed by the NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on the alleged audio leak of the former chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar’s son, he said. “Saqib Nisar’s son was found dealing with the distribution of PTI tickets for the elections of Punjab Assembly that were not held on May 14,” he alleged.

Read more: Judicial Commission stops probe into audio leaks after SC order

Earlier in the day, the federal government raised objection over the Supreme Court (SC) bench hearing the audio leaks commission case.

The plea submitted by the federal government has raised objections over the inclusion of CJP Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Muneeb Akhtar in the audio leaks commission bench.

The plea stated that as per the code of conduct, judges cannot hear cases related to their relatives, former CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry also denied being part of the Arslan Iftikhar case.

The federal government sought the formation of a new bench in the audio leaks case hearing.