IHC’s Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb files petition against ISI chief in Supreme Court

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team has reviewed this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team investigated whether the Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued any response to the serious allegation or not.

In a post on social media platform X on July 3, 2024, PTI MPA Fauzia Siddiqui claimed that IHC’s Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the chief of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). However, the high court itself denied and categorically rejected the allegation.

On March 25, six IHC judges — out of a total strength of eight — wrote a startling letter to the Supreme Judicial Council members, regarding attempts to pressure judges through abduction and torture of their relatives as well as secret surveillance inside their homes.

The controversy has increased tensions between the judiciary and state apparatus with the case currently being heard in the Supreme Court.

HOW IT STARTED

On July 3, 2024, a post by PTI MPA Siddiqui on social media platform X said: “Senior Justice Miangul Aurangzeb of the IHC has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the ISI chief, alleging that intelligence agencies have threatened the families of the judges.”

The MPA did not provide any petition, document or evidence for her claim.

The post was seen by more than 122,000 people as of 6:27pm on July 4 and was later taken down.

The same claim was shared by a PTI supporter as well here and was seen by more than 16,000 people.

The claim was shared by other X users as well here and here.

Notably, the posts did not name the incumbent ISI chief, Lieutenant General Nadeem Anjum, who assumed the position in October 2021.

METHODOLOGY

A fact check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and the keen public interest in the matter as it contained a serious allegation about a sitting high court judge approaching the apex court against the intelligence chief amid a controversy already present in the country about friction between the judiciary and intelligence apparatus.

Investigating whether the high court responded to the serious allegation yielded a press release via Dawn.com‘s court correspondent in Islamabad Umer Burney.

The IHC press release said the claim had been circulating on X and other social media platforms since July 3.

“It is clarified that the contents of the said tweet/posts are not true and the same are baseless,” it categorically said.

Dawn.com‘s Supreme Court correspondent Abdullah Momand also confirmed that no such petition was submitted to or present in the apex court’s records.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim of PTI MPA Fauzia Siddiqui regarding IHC’s Justice Aurangzeb submitting a petition in the apex court against the ISI chief is false.

The IHC itself released a statement categorically stating that the circulated claim was false and baseless. Furthermore, the MPA did not provide any document as evidence nor is any such petition present in the apex court’s records.

Evidence and References