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CJ sees nothing wrong in transfer of hijacking case

RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Saeeduzaman Siddiqui does not see anything wrong or extraordinary in the transfer of the hijacking case by Special Judge Shabbir Ahmed to the Anti-terrorist Court at Karachi on Wednesday.

The Chief Justice, who has always shunned the media at social gatherings, made his views known in a brief discourse with journalists at the farewell reception for Justice Raja Afrasiab Khan here on Friday morning.

While taking a round of the reception to meet the judges from Federal Shariat Court, the Rawalpindi Bench of the Lahore High Court, the Attorney General and his deputies, Provincial Advocates General and members of the Bar, Justice Siddiqui hesitantly stopped near a group of journalists to return their greetings.

Someone drew his attention to the headlines in Thursday's vernacular press that Justice Shabbir had declined to proceed with the trial of Nawaz Sharif and his 'accomplices' in the hijacking case saying that "agency personnel" were present in the court room.

Chief Justice Siddiqui said he did not see anything wrong in that. As an administrative judge, Justice Shabbir could try a case himself or if he did not wish to do so he could transfer it to some other court, he said.

He was told that the presence of agency or security personnel in a court was not a new phenomenon and some of them attended his court daily, Justice Siddiqui smiled and without offering a comment moved on, putting an end to his first-ever press talk.