•Judge Arbab Muhammad Tahir argued that the case should be handled by SJC outside of the workplace harassment law
•Judge Saman Imtiaz defends presumed jurisdiction, saying the court is a workplace
Islamabad: Two judges from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) have written to express their views on the lawsuit Harassment Complaints Advocate Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir filed a lawsuit against the Chief Justice.
Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir is a member of the now-discontinued committee that aims to review allegations of harassment against IHC CJ Judge Sarfraz Dogar and align with the Supreme Court and assert that such allegations do not fall under the Work Harassment Act.
Justice Tashir clarified in a letter that the Supreme Judicial Committee (SJC) is the case of such greed. Sources familiar with the development said he insisted that the competent authority had wrong jurisdiction over the matter.
The letter was sent between the judge and the Chief Justice shortly after Justice Dinod, the IHC Government, took over as the competent authority.
In another letter, Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz defended the jurisdiction and called the court the workplace.
She said she is responsible for accepting complaints as a competitor’s competition bill under the protection of women under the Workplace Act.
Although there is no provision for the inclusion of itself in the Commission of Inquiry constitutes a charge against the Chief Justice, as Article 4 of Section 4 of the Act states: “The Commission of Inquiry shall submit its findings and recommendations to the competent authorities after the initiation of thirty religious investigations.”
Justice Imtiaz pointed out that subsection 2 of Section 3 states: “The committee shall consist of three members, at least one of whom shall be a woman. One member shall be from senior management and one member shall be a senior representative of an employee or a senior employee without a CBA.” She said that in order to measure this requirement, she included her own body.
The episode took a huge turn when the IHC government stood out and took Justice Raja Inam Ameen Minhas as the competent authority.
Justice Imtiaz suggested that her successors would complete the unfinished task, reiterating her view that judges could conduct trials under the bill and that Section 209 did not grant them immunity from such litigation.
BESID seeks lawsuits against the Supreme Justice in the Protection of Women in the Workplace Act, and Ms. Mazari-Hazir earlier filed the Supreme Judicial Commission for the wrongful conduct lawsuits against Dogar Judiciary. She contacted the Judicial Committee again after the IHC government made Justice Imtiaz the competition authority.
A fierce exchange vote last week between lawyers and the Supreme Justice.
At the hearing, Justice Dogar warned Ms. Mazari-Hazir for his contempt for the court case, reportedly following the remarks of “catch her”.
Posted in Dawn on September 19, 2025
