Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa called the fact-finding committee and its subsequent report on the Faizabad dharna case an eyewash and remarked that the committee was illegal. He also asked who was the real mastermind of the 2017 dharna.
All the parties are withdrawing their appeals against the Supreme Court verdict, so the committee’s TORs are akin to eyewash, he remarked.
The CJP said this during the hearing of appeals against the Supreme Court’s Faizabad dharna case judgement. The three-judge bench also comprises Justice Aminuddin and Justice Athar Minallah.
The AGP told Justice Minallah that the committee had been formed by the federal government. The CJP then called the fact-finding committee illegal.
“One man is imported from abroad, and he paralyses the entire country”, he remarked.
Why the investigation was not conducted under the Commission of Inquiry Act, asked CJP Isa. “If Absar Alam is called by the committee and he does not appear, what will you do?” he asked further.
A commission constituted under the Commission of Inquiry Act has an authority and all the institutions are bound to assist it.
The supremacy of Constitution will have to be ensured, Justice Minallah remarked. CJP Isa remarked that the inquiry should also highlight why certain parties filed review petitions against the verdict.
The CJP also added that according to former PEMRA chairman Absar Alam’s statement, no institution, including the election commission, was independent.
“Can someone go to Canada, incite riots and come back to Pakistan?”, asked the CJP. “Is this right only available to those coming from Canada? Who brought them?”
He further said that a Muslim should not be scared, adding that there is no place for riots.
The Faizabad dharna case was a landmark judgement, said Justice Minallah. The CJP remarked that good or bad, there was a government chosen by the people at that time.
Referring to former PEMRA chairman Absar Alam’s statement submitted to the court in the case on Tuesday, the incumbent chief, Saleem Baig, said whatever his predecessor said must have happened with him, adding that nothing like that happened to him.
Baig told the court he didn’t know much about Alam’s statement.
CJP Isa told the attorney general that if a channel incites violence and arson, that doesn’t constitute freedom of speech. He then told the PEMRA chairman that under the decision, he had to do something too.
Justice Minallah then asked Saleem Baig what action PEMRA had taken in light of the decision. The CJP asked him where it was mentioned in PEMRA’s implementation report about the suspension of some TV channels’ transmission in Cantt areas.
CJP Isa expressed anger towards the PEMRA chairman, saying every institution has become a joke. Justice Minallah said after retirement, everyone says he was pressured, asking what action was taken against the cable operators who suspended channel transmissions.
