By Special Correspondent
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday dismissed all three appeals seeking an inquiry into the cipher associated with the alleged foreign conspiracy behind Imran Khan’s ouster from the PM office.
The petitions filed by Advocates Syed Tariq Badr, Zulfiqar Bhatta and Naeem ul Hassan were returned by the registrar supreme court with objections. Justice Qazi Faez Isa presided over the in-chamber hearing and remarked “if the government wants, it can make ciphers from all over the globe public”.
Not job of the court: SC
He held “if anyone else does this, he will be guilty of violating the Secret Act”, adding that the judiciary cannot “interfere in the affairs of the executive”. “Is it job of the court to deal with foreign affairs?” Justice Isa remarked.
The top court judge then inquired, “Who was the prime minister when the cipher came out?” To this, lawyer GM Chaudhry told the court that “at that time Imran Khan was the prime minister”, adding that the PTI chief had “fluttered the cipher” during a rally.
Justice Qazi Faez Isa then asked if Imran Khan as then premier took any decision to investigate the matter as he had all the powers to carry out an investigation. “All the authorities are under the PM. What should be done by the court in the case of this cipher,” he posed a question.
The SC judge also noted that he will have to go through the cipher in order to conduct an inquiry. The counsel for the petitioners said that the cipher’s investigation is a matter of fundamental rights.
However, Justice Isa stated that there is no issue of fundamental rights in this case and questioned “what was the effect of the cipher on our daily lives?” Justice Isa maintained that “it is the job of the Election Commission of Pakistan to conduct an investigation”.
Previously, one Naeem-ul-Hassan through Azhar Siddique advocate had filed a petition in the SC, praying that “a high-powered commission of inquiry should be formed to hold inquisitorial proceeding with regard to the anti-state activities carried out by the respondent political parties through mala-fide and abuse of power under the provisions of the constitution and for committing treason and sedition against the democratically and legally-elected government”.
However, the SC registrar had returned the petitions on the grounds that the petitioner had not pointed out what questions of public interest were involved with reference to the fundamental rights.
