The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has said it is considering withdrawing its petition calling on the Supreme Court to revisit the 2019 judgment against the 20-day sit-in by extremist group Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) held in Islamabad in 2017 wherein the court was highly critical of the agency’s role in the protest.
A request submitted before the apex court on behalf of the IB Director General said, “The petitioner intends to withdraw the titled civil review petition and does not want to pursue the matter in the case.” The request was submitted two days before hearing of the petition was scheduled to be held.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa, will take up the review petitions against the judgment on September 28. Justice Isa was also the author of the said judgment of the apex court issued in 2019.
The petitions against the verdict were filed by the Ministry of Defence, IB, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), former minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) — all of whom were named in the verdict. But the IB has now asked the apex court to accept its plea for the withdrawal of the case.
