Islamabad High Court (IHC) Judge Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri has been the target of suspicious calls and messages, it was revealed on Wednesday.
Judiciary sources revealed that the caller was allegedly the Director General of the FIA (Federal Investigation Agency). However, subsequent investigation revealed that no such call was made by the FIA General Directorate. The person behind the suspicious communication tried to contact Judge Jahangiri directly.
In response, the top lawyer directed the court registrar to immediately inform the FIA and provide it with the mobile number associated with the incident.
According to insiders, the suspicious call was directed to the office of Justice Jahangiri at the Islamabad High Court just two days ago. In addition, messages from the same suspicious source were sent to the judge’s personal mobile number.
The IHC on July 8 initiated contempt proceedings against people who allegedly ran a defamatory campaign against IHC judge Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri on social media platforms and issued notices.
IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq constituted a 7-judge bench comprising all IHC judges except Justice Jahangiri to hear the case.
He said the smear campaign against the judges was intolerable and questioned if the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) were not aware of it. The Advocate General of Islamabad told the bench that the government would take action based on the reaction of the judges.
“Are judges left to answer such questions? Should we also hold press conferences? Whoever is found responsible will not be spared and will spend the summer in Adiala Jail,” Justice Farooq replied.
At the start of the full court hearing, Chief Justice Aamer Farooq said the court had explained many times but no one had learned, adding that contempt of court proceedings was an institutional response to the social media campaign.
Since May last year, IHC judges have faced heat for resisting alleged executive interference in their judicial duties. To resolve the issue, they met the then CJP Umar Ata Bandial and Acting CJP Qazi Faez Isa to discuss harassment, especially after Tyrian’s case.
