PTI, Opposition Slam Govt After IHC Judges’ Explosive Letters

News Desk

Islamabad: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Salman Akram Raja on Wednesday said that the recent letters written by two Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges had “exposed the state of the judiciary.” He criticised government leaders for embarking on foreign trips while the country suffers from devastating floods.

A day earlier, IHC Justices Babar Sattar and Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan addressed separate letters to Chief Justice Sardar Sarfraz Dogar, raising serious concerns about the lack of transparency within the high court.

Speaking at a press conference in the federal capital alongside PTI and opposition alliance leaders, Raja said the judges’ letters had “laid bare the reality of the judicial system.” He lamented that while the nation faced destructive floods, government officials were busy with foreign tours.

Raja also condemned the deadly blast at Akhtar Mengal’s rally in Quetta, terming it a terrorist attack that “no patriot can remain silent over.” At least 17 people were killed and over 30 injured in the incident on Tuesday.

Questioning the fate of international aid pledged after the 2022 Geneva conference, Raja accused the government of corruption and negligence, saying the situation had worsened due to economic mismanagement. “Exports are declining, imports are rising, and the economic crisis has fully unmasked the sham system imposed after February 8,” he remarked.

Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas recalled that Pakistan had been dismembered in 1971 and warned that no society could survive without justice. “Before these floods, the country already faced a deluge of constitutional violations. If unity is to be achieved, the supremacy of law must be accepted,” he stressed, adding that peaceful political struggle was being unfairly branded as terrorism.

Former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser also condemned the Quetta attack and highlighted the devastation in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where 13 members of one family were killed in Bannu. He urged the federal government to work with provinces on small dams, revive delayed projects like the Billion Tree initiative, and uphold constitutional supremacy. “Mian sahib used to say ‘respect the vote.’ But after losing the mandate on February 8, he should have resigned,” Qaiser added.

Former Sindh governor Muhammad Zubair said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had claimed in China that there was “zero corruption” under his government. “Yet, the auditor general’s report reveals Rs300 billion lost in the wheat scandal, while sugar mill owners within the government pocketed another Rs300 billion,” he noted.

Former senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar criticised shrinking space for free expression, pointing out that prominent anchors had been taken off air and a journalist was recently picked up for a harmless tweet. “When Supreme Court and high court judges themselves admit the judiciary isn’t independent, where are people supposed to go for justice?” he asked.

Khokhar said the IHC judges’ letters had made the situation “crystal clear,” leaving citizens disillusioned. He announced that he would publish a white paper on judicial history, covering the tenures of former chief justices from Iftikhar Chaudhry to Qazi Faez Isa.