ISLAMABAD: Top lawyers’ bodies will file references against the Supreme Court justice who is allegedly a subject of recent audio leaks.
The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) will receive six different references regarding the judge’s misbehavior under Article 209 of the Constitution from the Pakistan Bar Council and all provincial bar organizations. This was determined in a meeting presided over by Hassan Raza Pasha, chairman of the executive committee, and PBC Vice Chairman Haroonur Rashid.
The bar councils from Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Islamabad were present during the conference.
After the meeting, Mr. Pasha told the media that it had been resolved by consensus to present the misbehavior references to the SJC. He promised that they would be submitted by next week and indicated that, in the event that the SJC did not hear the references, the lawyers’ bodies would plan their next course of action.
The attorney claimed that the bodies asked that the judge resign rather than face the SJC’s proceedings.
The president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Abid Zuberi, who is one of the voices in the audio leaks, can be summoned, according to Mr. Pasha, despite the bar councils’ lack of jurisdiction to issue show-cause notices to judges.
Senior PBC official Akhtar Hussain told the media that the issue involves the nation’s top bar councils and “cannot be avoided.”
Mr. Pasha stated that Mr. Zuberi would have the chance to explain his stance but that if he did not, the PBC would issue a formal notice of alleged wrongdoing and revoke his practicing license.