Judges are trying to build a ‘firewall’ to defeat the military establishment so that it can independently facilitate Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and it has nothing to do with the provision of justice to a common man, said senior analyst Muzamal Suharwardy.
While speaking at a program on Naya Daur TV, the analyst said that Supreme Court Justices Mansoor Ali Shah and Athar Minallah reiterated at the recently held Asma Jahangir conference in Lahore that there should be no interference in court matters.
He said that the judiciary is feeling interference in cases related to the PTI as judges are with the Imran Khan-founded party, whereas the military establishment is against the PTI. Basically, it is a conflict between the judiciary and the military establishment, he added.
Suharwardy said that the judiciary feels that those involved in the May 9 riots should get bail. He mentioned that the Peshawar High Court (PHC) granted bail to PTI leader Zartaj Gull by opening court at 10 p.m.
“If the judiciary wants to build a fire wall to facilitate the PTI, then it should also clearly announce that this firewall has nothing to do with the provision of justice to the general public,” he stressed.
The analyst said that the judiciary is considering itself a bigger establishment than the army as it believes it has authority to write political scripts. The judicial establishment has emerged and is currently fighting with the military establishment, he added.
Suharwardy said that there is no system of accountability in the judiciary, and giving bribes is a common practice in all courts. He added that the judiciary is interfering in the politics of the country.
While responding to a question, the analyst said that Islamabad High Court's (IHC) Justice Babar Sattar has admitted he holds a United States green card. He said that although a green card is not equivalent to nationality, it is a permanent residence. Justice Sattar should have surrendered the green card at the time when he took the oath as judge, he added.
To another question, Suharwardy said that JUI-F chief Fazl-Ur-Rehman has a history of having a love-hate relationship with the army, adding that the army knows well how to deal with him.
While talking about the appointment of Ishaq Dar as deputy prime minister, the analyst said that there are two perspectives. The first is that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) named Dar as deputy PM, as it had doubts that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto might demand the slot of deputy PM, so it blocked his way. The second is that Dar can’t hold himself from interfering in economic policies; now Dar will take part in devising economic policies., he added.