An important meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa began at the Supreme Court in Islamabad on Thursday with the focus on the letter authored by six Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges against the alleged interference in their work by the prime intelligence agency, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

PM Shehbaz who entered the apex court building through judges gate was accompanied by Federal Law Minister Azad Nazeer Tarar and Attorney General for Pakistan (AFP) Mansoor Usman Awan.

The meeting between the prime minister the chief justice was being held at the CJP’s chambers. Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, the senior puisne judge, was also present in the meeting.

Six judges of the IHC had on Tuesday written a letter to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), seeking its guidance on doing duty during ‘interference with free and fair justice delivery’.

Signed by Justices Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Babar Sattar, Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Arbab Muhammad Tahir and Saman Rafat Imtiaz of the IHC, the March 25 letter was addressed to the CJP and Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Munib Akhtar, as well as chief justices of the IHC and Peshawar High Court.

Reacting to the claims made by the judges, all bar councils of the country called for a probe in order to ascertain the authenticity of these claims.  

The Pakistan Bar Council stressed the need for constituting a committee to investigate the allegations of interference with judicial affairs. In a statement, the council said the SJC was not the forum to investigate such allegations.

The CJP should form a committee consisting of three senior judges of the Supreme Court. The independence of the judiciary cannot be compromised, it said.

Reporter Hashmir Ahsan