File photo. Farooq Naeem—AFP
The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed in-chamber appeals challenging the registrar’s objections to petitions seeking a probe into a U.S. cypher, with Justice Qazi Faez Isa questioning why the court should order an inquiry based on hearsay.
Filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the in-chamber appeals had sought a court-ordered inquiry into the contents of a diplomatic cypher that the PTI claims contains “proof” of a “conspiracy” to oust Imran Khan as prime minister. “How can we order an investigation based on hearsay? We do not believe in speculations,” remarked Justice Isa, adding that if Khan had wanted an investigation, he should have ordered it while he was prime minister.
“Why do you bring such cases before us? We already have so much on our plate,” he said, stressing that he would not interfere in matters of the state. Dismissing all three appeals and upholding the registrar’s objections, he reiterated that he would not interfere in state matters and would similarly not permit the government to interfere in judicial matters.
Telling the counsel to direct the petitioners to approach Parliament if they wanted intervention in state matters, he said simply reading the cypher would be a violation of the Official Secrets Act and no other citizen could read it.
Filed by advocates Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta, Syed Tariq Badar and Naeemul Hassan, the petitions had sought an inquiry into the diplomatic cypher but were returned by the apex court’s registrar over various objections. The PTI had subsequently filed appeals challenging the registrar’s objections.