ISLAMABAD – Islamabad High Court (IHC) has cancelled hearing plea against former chief of army staff Gen (r) Qamar Javed Bajwa, and Intelligence chief Lt Gen (r) Faiz Hameed and two journalists.
Last month, Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Aamer Farooq issued notices to former military and intelligence chiefs, two journalist and the director general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in petition seeking legal proceedings against them.
In recent development, Islamabad High Court removed the hearing of a case, and it was removed from the list.
Reports suggest that IHC CJ Aamer Farooq was slated to hear the petition of citizen Atif Ali later this week and earlier notices to the FIA, General Retired Qamar Javed Bajwa and Faiz Hameed, but it decided against hearing the case.
The petitioner earlier contended that the interview of ex-Gen Bajwa was conducted in a “reckless” manner and the journalists, Javed Chaudhry and Maitla, did not show any sense of responsibility in publishing them. The petition claimed the revelations made in the interview(s) were a violation of the Official Secrets Act and tantamount to inciting mutiny and disharmony.
In the written order, the Chief Justice of Islamabad High Court maintained that on the request of citizen Atif Ali, FIA took no action despite repeated requests against the retired army officials.
The petitioner maintained that TV host Javed Chaudhry and Shahid Maitla conducted the interviews for the sake of ratings which malign institutions, and society. He opined that freedom of expression was used for a ‘criminal act’ in tweaked interviews.
It said the interview portrayed a negative image of the armed forces and also tried to create a rift between state and the masses.
IHC issues notices to Gen (r) Bajwa, Gen (r) Faiz Hameed for ‘misrepresenting events’
