Pakistan to investigate army’s meddling in judiciary, law minister says

Pakistan will probe accusations by High Court judges of intimidation by the country’s top spy agency.

Pakistan will set up an inquiry commission to investigate accusations by six High Court judges of interference and intimidation by the country’s powerful intelligence agencies in judicial decisions, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar has said.

Tarar made the announcement at a news conference on Thursday in Islamabad, saying the decision was taken at a meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa.

Their meeting took place after a letter written by six judges of the Islamabad High Court was sent to Isa’s office. It alleged that the country’s top spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), had been intimidating them to seek favourable decisions in political cases.

The Pakistani army’s media office did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

“We believe it is imperative to inquire into and determine whether there exists a continuing policy on part of the executive branch of the state, implemented by intelligence operatives who report to the executive branch, to intimidate judges, under threat of coercion or blackmail, to engineer judicial outcomes in politically consequential matters,” said the letter, addressed to the Supreme Judicial Council headed by Justice Isa and seen by Reuters.

It mentioned as an example that the ISI’s operatives intimidated through “friends and relatives” two of the judges who had declared against taking up a political case related to jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan last year.

It said the six judges had brought such cases in their chief’s knowledge and also met the then-chief justice of Pakistan to “share their concerns regarding efforts of