ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has given two months’ time to the country’s premier intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to clear a roadblock on a portion of the Khayaban-i-Suharwardi (Aabpara) outside its headquarters.

The direction was issued by a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar in the presence of Director General for Counter-Intelligence Maj Gen Faiz Hameed who was summoned by the court.

Earlier, Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Syed Nawab Hassan Gardezi pleaded before the court to grant 12 weeks’ time to the ISI to present alternative security plans needed to remove the encroachment. But the court rejected the plea.

The court had taken up an appeal of the defence ministry against the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) direction regarding blockage of public passage on a service road leading to the Capital Development Authority’s headquarters.

CJP says court cannot adopt different standard while deciding case relating to spy agency

The ISI had closed the main artery in 2008 after terrorist attacks on several important government buildings.

On July 4, the apex court had suspended a similar direction by the IHC to the ISI on the grounds that a high court judge could not assume suo motu powers.

CJP Nisar acknowledged the significance of the institution in relation to national security, but cautioned that the court could not adopt a different standard while deciding the case relating to the ISI. He said the spy agency enjoyed significant resources to remove the encroachment.

“Make a bombproof wall or shift the headquarters elsewhere,” the CJP observed.

The SC told Maj Gen Faiz that the apex court had the highest respect for the institution, but the authority of the SC was supreme and higher than other institutions.

The court has already issued directions to remove encroachments from all roads of the capital city. The court has said it has to ensure supremacy of the law at all cost.

“True sir,” replied Maj Gen Faiz and said being the biggest spy agency, the ISI had faced the brunt of terrorism through a number of terrorist attacks. He stated that the ISI respected the supremacy of law and honoured the decision of courts.

Maj Gen Faiz, however, explained that ISI needed time to shift sensitive equipment that was why it was asking for the six weeks’ time.

The CJP observed that the court acknowledged and respected the sacrifices and instead of six weeks granted eight weeks’ time to complete the exercise of shifting equipment and opening of the road.

On June 22, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the IHC while hearing a petition against the encroachment of public land had ordered the premier agency to clear the encroachment from Khayaban-i-Suharwardi within a week with an observation that “neither CDA board passed any resolution nor any formal permission had been accorded to close the main Khayaban-i-Suharwardi for security purposes”.

The IHC even had issued show-cause notices to officials of the defence ministry and the ISI for their reluctance and had asked them to explain why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them for not complying with the court order.

Earlier, the defence ministry had informed the court that the spy agency had been facing serious threats and its different offices in Multan and even Rawalpindi had come under attack over the past few years.

The ministry had also informed the high court that the ISI had closed a portion of the road with the CDA’s consent as the civic agency agreed on a security plan under which the road was closed to the general public in 2008 and traffic had been diverted to an alternative road.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2018