A five-member larger bench of the Supreme Court (SC), headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, on Wednesday heard the appeal filed by former Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui against his dismissal, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

During the hearing when Hamid Khan, counsel for the former judge, protested that his client was not given the right to appeal against the ‘injustice’ done to him by the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), Justice Bandial remarked that the rules set for judges were different from those set for other public officeholders. “We have to follow the constitution,” he said categorically.

He made it clear to Advocate Hamid Khan that if he wanted the rules concerning judges changed, then he better looked towards the parliament for that. “Our job is to ensure implementation on the laws enacted by the parliament,” Justice Bandial remarked.

Hamid Khan replied that it was unfortunate that changes were not made to the constitution in the light of changing times.

Counsel for the former judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, on the occasion, read out that speech of his client on the basis of which the SJC had shown him the door.

When he was done with reading, Justice Umar Ata Bandial asked him as to why his client had let personnel of the country’s premier intelligence agency into his home who had come to meet him, and that, too, not once but thrice. “Nobody enters somebody’s home unless allowed by the inmates,” the SC judge reminded.

Advocate Hamid replied that when somebody knocked at the door, the house inmates had no option but to open it.

Justice Bandial, on the occasion, reminded counsel for the former IHC judge that his client had argued that making speech was a judge’s right. “Truth of the matter is that we are judges: we don’t speak; rather these are our decisions which speak,” he pointed out.

Reporter Amanat Gishkori