ISLAMABAD: Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan of Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday put on notice the prime minister and the entire federal government in the Dr Aafia Siddiqui case.
However, there was a question mark on Monday’s proceedings, since Justice Khan was not scheduled to hear the case, or any other case this week.
The online case management system on the IHC’s website shows that “W.P. 3139/2015 Dr. Fowzia Siddiqui vs M/o Foreign Affairs” (the title of the case) stands “cancelled — bench not available”. This essentially means the case was not listed before Justice Khan on Monday.
Additional Attorney General Rashid Hafeez, who represented the government in the case, said they would challenge Monday’s order, since the case was not listed before the bench.
The additional attorney general further said the PM and cabinet members were not a party in this case. Therefore, the judge can’t issue any order without hearing them..
Contempt proceedings
The judge directed the IHC registrar to initiate contempt proceedings against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and federal ministers for not supporting Dr Fowzia Siddiqui’s legal efforts in the US.
He sought an explanation from the cabinet by August 4.
The government had already challenged in the Supreme Court a previous order issued by Justice Khan in this case.
Justice Khan decried the “reproachable use of administrative power to shackle independent judicial authority” as Dr Fowzia’s case has been pending in the IHC since 2015.
Roster discrepancy
The roster, approved by IHC Chief Justice Sardar Mohammad Sarfraz Dogar, didn’t list any case before the judge in question, since he is on a five-week leave from July 20.
As a result, the IHC registrar’s office didn’t issue a cause list — schedule of cases — for Justice Khan’s court.
A senior official from the IHC chief justice’s office told Dawn the cause list of Justice Khan’s court was cancelled and there was no case before him on Monday.
Sources said that Justice Khan’s staff had asked the registrar to issue a revised cause list, since the judge intended to hear some cases on Monday, despite being on leave. However, the request was declined.
Subsequently, insiders claimed, the judge’s staff “issued a cause list bypassing the chief justice”.
In his order, Justice Khan has accused the chief justice’s office of “deliberately sabotaging his judicial authority” by refusing to amend the weekly roster.
It is important to mention that Justice Khan and CJ Dogar have previously clashed over judicial matters as well.
In March, Justice Khan initiated contempt proceedings against IHC officials after discovering that a case he was hearing about ex-prime minister Imran Khan’s right to meet with his lawyer was transferred to a different bench without his knowledge or consent.
However, a bench, headed by Justice Dogar, stayed the contempt proceedings.
The differences between the two judges stemmed from the transfer of three judges, including Justice Dogar, from other high courts to the IHC earlier this year.
Justice Khan was also among the five IHC judges who filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the transfer of judges to IHC and the subsequent changes to the seniority list.
‘Roster manipulation’
A senior official of the IHC has said Justice Khan’s move to fix the case for hearing violated past judgments of superior courts that declared the chief justice as “Master of Roster”.
However, in his order, Justice Khan made scathing remarks on CJ Dogar’s action.
“Whether [refusal to fix the case] was by design or oversight, I cannot say ... but given the government’s stiff opposition to stand by the daughter of the nation ... I may be forgiven for thinking it was the former,” said the order.
Justice Khan also condemned what he called “the menial triviality of a cause list”.
He asserted his actions were solely to uphold urgent justice, citing historical precedents where judges conducted judicial business outside formal settings.
Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2025
