Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court, Justice Ibrahim Khan, has stated that there was an attempt to link him to a political party through a campaign against him on social media. According to details, a case regarding labeling the judiciary as a corrupt institution was heard in the Peshawar High Court, and Chief Justice Justice Ibrahim Khan presided over the hearing, while Transparency International board member Habib Hashmat appeared in court.
The Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court said, “I have no association with any political party, a campaign was carried out against me and the court on social media, and an attempt was made to link me to a political party, while the court makes decisions according to the law”. He added, “A political leader, to whom I have no association with, displayed my photo on social media, someone prove to me that I have met with them, the head of a political party threatened the court’s decisions, when asked for an apology in the contempt of court case, they apologized and then criticized the court from outside”.
The Chief Justice said, “When we again established a larger bench on this matter, they appeared and unconditionally apologized, keeping their dignity high, the court forgave them”. When questioned by Transparency International representatives, the Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court said, “How did Transparency International in its report label the judiciary as the second corrupt institution, 80% of people in the Transparency International survey have given a clean chit to the judiciary”.
During the hearing of the Transparency International report, Court Assistant Professor Niaz Hall University participated through a video link and stated that the population of KP is more than four crores, only 1,600 people were included in the survey, and 54 survey forms were rejected. Out of 1,546, only 39 said that the judiciary is corrupt”.
He said, “Only five people said that they have bribed the judiciary; 780 people gave their opinion in the survey, which is not mentioned in the report, the Transparency International report is based on assumptions, not facts”. Transparency International member Habib Hashmat said, “We did not mention mega corruption in the survey report, the report is based on public opinion, we will respond to the objections raised by the professor, we need to be provided with this report”.
The Chief Justice said, “We want to resolve this issue and completely clear the judiciary of any corruption, you tell us and provide evidence so that the court can take action against corrupt individuals”. The court instructed the Transparency Board member to gather and submit the response by February 19th, 3 pm.