RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted another four weeks to the premier spy agency of the country to remove encroachments in front of its headquarters in the federal capital.

A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar was hearing Defence Ministry’s appeal against the Islamabad High Court order dated 22-06-2018.

The Chief Justice asked the Ministry of Defence official that the court had had already given it eight weeks to remove the encroachments but they are still not cleared.

He said in India, on one of the roads Mahatma Ghandi’s statue was removed on the orders of the Indian Supreme Court and “this is called the sanctity and rule of law.”

Defence Ministry Director (Legal) Brig Flak Naz informed the court that substantial alternative security equipments have been shifted and only the final adjustment have to be done and for that another four weeks are required.

The Chief Justice said, “Rule of law has to prevail in all circumstances. We have issued orders to all the departments to remove the encroachments.”

IHC Judge Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui on June 22, 2018, while hearing a petition had directed the ISI to clear the portion of Khayaban-e-Suharwardy Road in front of its headquarters till June 29, 2018. The Defence Ministry, however, had assured the IHC that it would clear the road within four weeks.

On July 03, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui issued show cause notices to four officials of Defence Ministry and ISI when they refused to sign an order sheet in which the court had incorporated an undertaking that the agency would clear barricades and encroachments on Khayaban-e-Suharwardy Road in a month.