ISLAMABAD:
The Islamabad Excessive Courtroom (IHC) remained a focus of political and judicial exercise in 2024, grappling with a big inflow of instances, significantly involving the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Founder Imran Khan, his spouse Bushra Bibi, and different PTI leaders. Many of those instances stemmed from district and particular courts, preserving the judiciary within the public highlight.
The yr noticed social media campaigns concentrating on Chief Justice Amir Farooq and different judges, allegedly to exert stress on the judiciary.
In a big growth, six out of eight IHC judges addressed the Supreme Judicial Council, elevating issues about interference in judicial issues.
Tensions escalated additional when all IHC judges acquired threatening letters containing arsenic powder.
Regardless of frequent criticism from the PTI Founder, the Islamabad Excessive Courtroom granted him and his occasion substantial reduction in numerous instances.
A whole lot of petitions and appeals filed by PTI and its leaders have been adjudicated, with a number of rulings favouring the petitioners.
Key selections included the acquittal of the PTI Founder and Shah Mehmood Qureshi within the cipher case and the nullification of a particular courtroom’s ruling.
The courtroom additionally suspended the sentences of Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi within the Toshakhana case and granted interim bail in one other Toshakhana case and the £190 million case.
Moreover, the courtroom dismissed a petition looking for Imran Khan’s disqualification for allegedly failing to reveal Tyrian White in his electoral nomination papers.
In different notable rulings, the IHC ordered the restoration of 91 out of 95 lacking Baloch college students and lacking poet Ahmed Farhad.
Caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar appeared in courtroom concerning the instances of lacking individuals, for which a bigger bench was constituted.
In a associated case, the courtroom sentenced deputy commissioner Islamabad to 6 months in jail and the SSP Islamabad to 4 months, alongside fines, for his or her roles within the detention of Shehryar Afridi.
The courtroom allowed PEMRA’s petition towards a choice banning courtroom reporting and directed telecom corporations to chorus from recording clients’ cellphone calls within the audio leaks case.
Structural modifications additionally marked the yr, with the variety of IHC judges rising from 9 to 12.
Contempt proceedings have been initiated over social media campaigns towards judges, and full courtroom benches have been constituted for a number of instances.
Moreover, a choice convicting Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi within the iddat case was overturned by Extra District and Classes Choose Muhammad Afzal Majuka.
The IHC’s selections in 2024 highlighted its pivotal function in addressing political and constitutional challenges whereas coping with pressures from numerous quarters.