22 July 2018•Update: 23 July 2018
By Islamuddin Sajid
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
Pakistan’s army on Sunday called on the Supreme Court to initiate an inquiry into allegations leveled by a senior judge against the country’s top spy agency.
“In order to safeguard the sanctity and credibility of the state institutions, honorable Supreme Court of Pakistan has been requested to initiate appropriate process of ascertain the veracity of the allegations and take actions accordingly,” said Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor, Pakistan military’s spokesman, in a statement.
On Saturday, Justice Shaukat Siddiqui, a Islamabad High Court judge, accused Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of being involved in “manipulating the judicial proceedings” in the country.
“ISI officials approached my chief justice and told him ‘We will not let Nawaz Sharif and his daughter get out of jail prior to the general elections’,” Siddiqui had claimed in his speech at Rawalpindi Bar Association.
The general elections in the country are scheduled to be held on July 25.
On July 6, a Pakistani court had handed a 10-year jail term to three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif and imposed an 8 million pound ($10.58 million) fine in a graft case linked to the illegal purchase of four luxury apartment in London in 1993.
His daughter Maryam Nawaz and her husband Safdar were sentenced to seven years and one year in jail, respectively.
The authorities arrested Sharif and his daughter at Lahore airport after return from London and sent them to Adiala jail on July 13.
On Monday, Sharif’s family filed appeals in Islamabad High Court, challenging the accountability court’s verdict. The court accepted the appeals but it has not fixed the date of hearing yet.
Siddiqui claimed officials of the spy agency asked the chief justice of Islamabad High Court to not include him in the bench hearing Sharif’s appeal.
The judge is currently facing a trial in a reference of misconduct in the Supreme Judicial Council, the body which holds inquiries into allegations of incapacity or misconduct against judges of Supreme Court or a high court.
