ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) and Islamabad Bar Association (IBA) has strongly condemned a reference filed against Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, declaring it false and baseless.

A declaration of the IHCBA meeting was issued on Saturday, says a press release.

The declaration strongly condemned the filing of a ‘false and baseless’ reference against Islamabad High Court judge, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani. “The IHCBA expresses serious concern over the inclusion of the names of its respected members in the reference. The reference is an attempt to defame the members of the Bar and the respected judges. We will not allow the image of the judiciary and the bar to be tarnished,” the declaration stated. The IHCBA said that it could not sit silent over the filing of false and baseless references against bar members. Respected judges are performing their judicial responsibilities conscientiously, it added.

The Bar has decided to fully support the honourable judges and Bar members. A conspiracy to blackmail the bar members and bring our institution into disrepute will not be allowed to succeed, the IHCBA resolved.

The declaration was issued by IHCBA President Naveed Malik and Secretary Rizwan Shabbir Kayani.

A reference was filed with the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on Thursday against Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani over alleged favouritism and accumulation of assets beyond his known sources of income.

A lawyer of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council (KPBC), Murtaza Qureshi, filed the reference against the IHC judge. He accused him of favouritism in the promotion of judges of the subordinate judiciary of Islamabad and also highlighted the real estate business in which the judge was allegedly a shareholder.

Meanwhile, Islamabad Bar Association (IBA) also strongly condemned filing of reference against Islamabad High Court judge (IHC), Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani.

In a press release on Saturday, The IBA states that an organised campaign has been launched against the IHC judge which is reprehensible bid to influence system of justice and is highly condemnable. It said that the IBA always remains a vanguard for protecting Constitution, supremacy of law and restoration of independent judiciary and will not hesitate in taking steps to hold supremacy of law and Constitution and independent judiciary in future too.