Islamabad: Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui a former Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge who was terminated from his services three years ago is fighting his case at the Supreme Court of Pakistan to clear himself of the charges made against him.

Siddiqui was terminated in 2018 on the recommendation of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) under the Article 209 of the Constitution of Pakistan for: “displaying a conduct unbecoming of a judge,” after he made remarks against law enforcement agencies in his speech at the Rawalpindi District Bar Association.

In the controversial speech the former judge had alleged that certain officials, especially those belonging to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) division were involved in judicial affairs when it came to the formation of benches at the High Court. Siddiqui is also the same judge who had strongly criticised the role assigned to the Pakistan Army as the mediator in the agreement to end the November 2017 sit-in at Islamabad Faizabad Interchange.

Following this, the SJC issued two show-cause notices to former judge Siddiqui, however no action was taken on these notices. It took the former judge, who served as lawyer for 23 years and seven years as judge, three years, to even restore his practicing license which was also terminated after the SJC recommendations.

A five-member SC special bench headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial is hearing Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui’s plea. Siddiqui wrote a letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed, requesting him to fix his plea against his removal. Following this, 13 Feb 2020, the SC fixed the first hearing.

Siddiqui in his plea stated that as per law before dismissing a judge an inquiry must be conducted into the allegations levelled against him. He told the Apex Court that some top military officers had met him and tried to influence him.

Earlier, during the hearing of his plea, the Apex Court had asked Siddiqui why he had not issued a Contempt of Court notice to an Pakistan Army general who had allegedly visited him at his residence. To this, the former judge stated before the court: “you should look at the situation at that time. The heads of institutions were after me. What might have happened in case I had issued a contempt notice?”

“The head of the institution (SC) at that time, Saqib Nisar, was also after me,” he alleged, while adding that, “if you want to hang me after this, then do so.” The former judge said he was very familiar with the system after having served three years as a lawyer, and seven years as a judge.

Shaukat Aziz was considered to be one of the best lawyers in the twin cities and had remarked many able judgments in his career as senior judge at the IHC.

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