A successful Faizabad sit-in commission is expected from CJP Isa. It has been hoped that the inquiry commission which has been formed by the government to investigate the Faizabad sit-in protests of 2017 will conduct a transparent probe in order to determine who was responsible for the days-long dissent that took place in 2017.
A three-member bench of Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Athar Minallah, headed by CJP Isa, heard the matter on Wednesday before Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aminuddin Khan.
Isa expressed his hope that the newly-formed commission would be able to live up to the nation’s expectations when he addressed the court during the hearing of the case.
In his remarks, the top judge made it clear that the inquiry commission was either going to scrape dust in [our] eyes or it would write a new history; we hope that they would conduct an independent and transparent investigation, as the top judge said.
A bench led by the Chief Justice of Pakistan rejected the government’s preliminary fact-finding committee during the last hearing of the case on November 1, ordering the Attorney-General of Pakistan to establish a new inquiry commission in order to ensure the implementation of the verdict of the apex court in the Faizabad sit-in case and to ensure that the verdict is implemented.
Today, at the hearing in the case of the Faizabad sit-in, AGP Awan presented before the court the notice on the re-constitution of a three-member inquiry commission in order to probe the implementation of the verdict in the Faizabad sit-in case.
There was a short period of time before the apex court was to hear the new inquiry commission before it was formed by the federal government.
The notification states that the committee will be headed by former KP Inspector-General of Police Akhtar Ali Shah, and that the members will include former IG Tahir Alam and Additional Secretary of the Interior Ministry Khushal Khan.
Moreover, the notification also contains a description of the terms of reference (TORs) of the commission, which states that within two months from the date of its establishment, the commission will submit a report on the subject matter.
In a notice published on the website, the inquiry commission explained that it would investigate the illegal financiers of the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP).
Furthermore, the commission added that it will recommend that actions be taken against those who issued statements expressing support for the sit-in.
A hearing on the sit-in review case for Faizabad has been adjourned till January 22, 2024 by the top court.
There has been a long legal battle over the Faizabad sit-in
I am writing to tell you about a legal saga that began on April 15, 2019, when the then-federal government, along with several entities, including the Defence Ministry, Intelligence Bureau, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf government, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the Awami Muslim League, and Mutahidda Qaumi Movement, among others, filed review appeals against the Supreme Court’s decision regarding the Faizabad sit-in case, delivered by the incumbent Chief Justice Isa, among others, apex court.
An apex court bench composed of Justice Mushir Alam and the now-CJP Isa, comprising both members, recommended earlier on February 6, 2019, that persons issuing an edict or fatwa for the purpose of harming another person or placing another person at risk must be dealt with with iron-hands and prosecuted in accordance with the law.
The court also ruled that the intelligence agencies should not exceed their mandates within the parameters of their respective missions. It was further decided that the bench should deal with a suo moto case that had been filed by TLP regarding their sit-in staged in Faizabad in 2017.
On the apex court’s website, the 43-page verdict that the two-judge bench issued reads as follows: “Every citizen, regardless of their political party, has the right to assemble and protest as long as the protest is peaceful and is governed by a law imposing reasonable restrictions that are in the interest of public order.”. It is a fact that the right of assembly and protest should only be restricted to the extent to which it violates the fundamental rights of others, such as the right to free movement and the right to own and enjoy property.”
In November 2017, the Supreme Court of India took suo motu notice of the three-week-long sit-in against the government’s decision to abolish the purpose-of-Prophethood oath, which was terminated by the government due to a clerical error, when the Election Act 2017 passed by the government.
There was an agreement reached between the protesters and the government, which led to the end of the sit-in.
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