ISLAMABAD     -    Supreme Court  Justice Sardar Tariq Masood  Tuesday recused himself from hearing  the petitions seeking directions to  probe a cipher — presented by PTI chairman Imran Khan as evidence of a ‘foreign conspiracy’ to oust him.

Justice Sardar who heard an appeal of advocate Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta and others against the SC Register Office’s  objections, referred the matter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Umar Ata Bandial to fix it before another bench.

The petitioners have requested the Supreme Court to issue directions for a probe to find out the truth about the letter regarding ‘international conspiracy’.

The petitioners prayed the apex court the government to depute one military and one civilian agency to investigate about threatening letter. Justice Tariq, after hearing the arguments, informed the counsel  that due to personal reasons he did not want to hear this matter and referred it to the chief justice to fix it before another bench.

Zulfiqar Ahmed  Bhutta  in March last year had filed a petition in the Supreme Court under Article 184(3) of Constitution,   and cited the federation through Law and Justice Division secretary as respondent.

Former prime minister Imran Khan on 27th March, 2022,  while addressing a public rally of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers,  had pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and waved it at the crowd  claiming it was evidence of an ‘international conspiracy’ being hatched to topple his government.

The Pakistan Democratic Movement, a coalition of political parties  which are in the government now believe that the former premier used the letter as an excuse to woo the government’s allies and PTI dissidents in the face of the no-confidence motion against him.

The petitioner stated that an ‘extraordinary situation’ had caused a law and order situation in the country by causing hatred against friendly countries. He added that the situation required immediate steps to ease the ‘mental agony’ of common Pakistanis caused by this development.

The petitioner prayed that the respondent may be directed to deliver the ‘letter’ to the concerned civil and military authorities to investigate this threat/letter. The PTI government on 30th March said that it had intention to take the issue to the apex court, and claimed that PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif was a part of the conspiracy.