The Islamabad High Court (IHC) finds itself embroiled in a concerning situation as reports emerge of threatening letters received by judges. What initially seemed to be an isolated incident within the IHC has now extended to include Supreme Court judges as well.
During the hearing of appeals against the cipher case verdict against PTI's Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Aamer Farooq said he would first talk about Tuesday's incident when eight judges of the high court received suspicious letters. He then told the advocate general to summon the capital police chief and SSP (operations).
DIG (Operations) Shahzad Bukhari and Counter-Terrorism Department Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Humayun Hamza appeared in court. The DIG told the IHC that four Supreme Court judges had also received similar letters.
Also Read: Four LHC judges also receive ‘suspicious letters’
He also told the court that so far no one held the acting charge of the inspector general of police, and he was looking after all the operations of Islamabad Police. "The recovered chemical has been sent for inspection, and a chemical report will be received in three to four days," DIG Bukhari said.
The court asked where these letters had been posted from. The DIG said the seal on the envelope was illegible, and also informed the court that today, four judges of the Lahore High Court also received letters with the same name.
Imran Khan's lawyer, Barrister Salman Safdar, remarked that this Resham woman, under whose name the letters were signed, should be found.
Also Read: 8 Islamabad High Court judges receive suspicious letters; probe started
CJ Farooq asked if all the letters had been received from the same post office. "The stamp on the letters is faded, but Rawalpindi could be read," the DIG responded.
The court asked the officers if they had seen the envelopes, to which the SSP said the letters apparently bore the stamp of the Rawalpindi post office, adding that the letters had not been posted through the GPO, but were dropped in a letterbox.
He said they were collecting the CCTV footage from near the letterbox and the area's information. "An investigation is going on, and a committee has also been formed," the SSP added.
