ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Salman Akram Raja on Wednesday said the recent letters by two Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges had “exposed the state of the judiciary”, as he criticised government leaders for undertaking foreign trips while the country grapples with floods.
A day earlier, IHC’s Justice Babar Sattar and Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan raised serious questions about the lack of transparency in the high court and wrote separate letters to Chief Justice Sardar Sarfraz Dogar.
Addressing a news conference along with PTI and opposition alliance leaders in the federal capital, Raja said the letters written by the two IHC judges had “laid bare the reality of the judicial system.” He added that the country was facing devastating floods while government leaders were engaged in foreign tours.
Raja condemned the attack on Akhtar Mengal’s rally, terming it a terrorist act against which “no patriot can remain silent.”
At least 17 people lost their lives and more than 30 were injured in a powerful blast near a BNP rally in Quetta on Tuesday.
Raja questioned the fate of funds pledged after the 2022 Geneva conference, alleging that corruption and negligence had worsened the flood situation. “Exports have fallen, imports have surged, and the economic crisis has fully exposed the sham system installed after Feb 8,” he remarked.
Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas said Pakistan was dismembered in 1971 and warned that societies without justice collapse. “Before these floods, the country faced a deluge of constitutional violations. If we want unity, we must accept the supremacy of law,” he said, warning that peaceful political struggle was being branded as terrorism to stifle dissent.
Former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser also condemned the attack on Mengal’s rally and highlighted the devastation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where 13 members of a single family were killed in Bannu.
He urged the federal government to work with provinces to build small dams, complete delayed projects like the Billion Tree initiative, and ensure constitutional supremacy. “Mian sahib used to say ‘respect the vote,’ but when you lost the mandate on Feb 8, you should have resigned,” he added.
Former Sindh governor Muhammad Zubair maintained that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had delivered a speech in China saying there was “zero corruption” under his tenure.
“The auditor general’s report clearly shows Rs300 billion had been lost in the wheat scandal, while sugar mill owners who are part of the government pocketed Rs300 billion.”
Speaking on the occasion, former senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said everyone was aware of the “limited space for freedom of expression”.
“Prominent media anchors had been taken off air. A few days ago a journalist was picked up from his residence. When [I] saw the tweet [he had] posted nothing objectionable,” Khokhar said.
“[When] Supreme Court and high court judges themselves declare the judiciary is not independent, ‘where are we supposed to turn?’,” he asked.
Khokhar said the IHC judges’ letters had made “everything clear, leaving people wondering which door they should knock on for justice.”
He announced plans to publish a white paper covering judicial history from former chief justices Iftikhar Chaudhry to Qazi Faez Isa.
