ISLAMABAD : Agha Iftikharuddin Mirza, who is accused of posting a video on social media threatening Justice Qazi Faez Isa, submitted on Wednesday an apology in the Supreme Court of Pakistan for the second time. A show-cause notice was issued to him on July 2, 2020. In his written reply, he said that the 67-year-old is “pash-e-imam since 1991 in a mosque and imambargah at Morgah, Rawalpindi.” He frequently discusses current affairs with his students after Maghrib prayers. On June 14, some remarks “slipped out of his tongue regarding the honourable judges and prestigious institution of the judiciary”, it said, adding that he regrets them. He even approached the Supreme Court on June 26 to “surrender himself and tender his apology” but he was “not allowed to enter the court even though an entry card had been issued to him”. The reply even said that Mirza is a chronic heart patient as his main arteries are blocked, The doctors have even advised getting an open heart surgery done. Along with it, he suffers from hypertension. “His regular medication badly affects his mental health, resultantly sometimes making him hyper, irrational, irritating and frustrating”. He promised to not “repeat any such act in future”. The reply was submitted by his lawyers Mrs Sarkar Abbas and Syed Rafaqat Hussain Shah. On June 30, an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad remanded Mirza into the FIA’s custody for seven days. Sarina Isa, the wife Justice Isa, filed on June 24 an application for an FIR to be registered against a man who threatened her husband. She said the man, whom she tentatively identified as Agha Iftikharuddin Mirza, threatened Justice Isa’s life. She quoted the man as saying “whoever is caught involved in embezzlement, even if he’s [Justice Qazi] Faez Isa…should be put before a firing squad”. He also called for the public hanging of “people like this” and said the whole city should be called to watch it. “Call them to Fawara Chowk to see that such and such man is being shot,” he said in the video. Justice Isa became the centre of a Supreme Court trial after a presidential reference was filed against him for concealing the assets of his wife and adult children. He has argued that they were not his dependents and therefore he had no need to declare their assets.
Beyond Politics: Ensuring Judicial Independence for a Thriving Democracy
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