Supreme Court Implements the Order and Takes the Matter of Press Conference on Judicial Side

Islamabad: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has implemented the Court Order in Constitution Petitions No. 77 to 85 of 2011 [regarding the alleged memo delivered to Admiral Mike Mulen U.S Joint Chief Staff] filed under Article 184(3) of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 by sending copies to all concerned parties and further in pursuance of the order wherein office was directed to put a separate note in the Chambers of Chief Justice of Pakistan along with the transcription of the press conference dated 01.12.2011 of Mr. Babar Awan, Sr. ASC along with replies/reactions of the Prime Minister of Pakistan 23.12.2011 and 26.12.2011 for passing appropriate orders.

In compliance with the above order, the office put up the note, upon which the Honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan has been pleased to pass the following order:-

“After perusal of transcription of the press conference dated 01.12.2011 addressed by Dr. Babar Awan, Sr. ASC in presence of three others on 01.12.2011 as well as reply/reaction of the Prime Minister dated 23.12.2011 and 26.11.2011 filed through Maulvi Anwar-ul-Haq, Attorney General for Pakistan, it is considered appropriate to take up this matter on judicial side. Thus, office is directed to place the matter before Bench No. VII on 04.01.2012 for proceedings in accordance with law”.

Further, the Honourable Court in para-9 of the above order dated 30.12.2011 has elaborated, “after having heard the parties and having taken into consideration the relevant provisions of the Constitution and the law, judgments cited on behalf of both the sides and the pleadings of the parties carefully, we hold as under:-

(a) In exercise of powers of Judicial Review, we hold that in these petitions, petitioners have succeeded in establishing that the issues involved are justiciable and question of public importance with regard to enforcement of fundamental rights, prima facie, under Articles 9, 14 and 19A of the Constitution has been made out. Thus, the petitions under Article 184(3) of the Constitution are maintainable.

(b) To delineate measures with a view to ensure enforcement of the fundamental rights noted in para ibid, a probe is called for to ascertain the origin, authenticity and purpose of creating/drafting of Memo for delivering it to Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen through Gen. (Retd.) James Logan Jones, former US National Security Advisor.

Thus, in exercise of powers conferred upon this Court under Article 187 of the Constitution, Order XXXII, Rules 1 and 2 read with Order XXXVI of the Supreme Court Rules, 1980 coupled with the principle of Civil Procedure Code, a Commission is appointed. As the due process of law is the entitlement of all the stakeholders, therefore, to ensure probe into the matter in an transparent manner the Commission shall be comprising of:

(i) Mr. Justice Qazi Faez Isa, (Chairman)
Chief Justice of Balochistan High Court

(ii) Mr. Justice Iqbal Hameed-ur-Rehman (Member)
Chief Justice, Islamabad High Court

(iii) Mr. Justice Mushir Alam (Member)
Chief Justice, High Court of Sindh

Raja Jawwad Abbas Hassan, District and Sessions Judge, Islamabad is appointed as Secretary to the Commission”.

Urdu translation of the court order is enclosed for publication in your esteemed paper.

For more information, contact:
Shahid Hussain Kamboyo
Public Relations Officer
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Tel: +9251 920 4184
Fax: +9251 920 1001
Email: pro_scp@yahoo.com