KARACHI – The Karachi Bar Association has locked horns with Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mian Saqib Nisar for his supervision of judicial affairs in a style resembling with a police officer.
The association passed a resolution on Thursday and expressed its severe displeasure at the way, the top judge was micro-managing the lower courts, with a special reference to the Larkana judge, who faced public humiliation at the hands of the chief justice, a few days back.
The resolution also states that the KBA was dismayed at the resignation of Additional District Judge of Sindh, Gul Zamir Solangi, saying the province lost a fine judicial officer and countless more have been demotivated.
“Disagreement with the opinion of any Judge, whether of equal or inferior status, should invariably be expressed in terms of courtesy and restraint,” the Bar’s resolution states.
It also highlighted the act of the CJP, who chided the Additional Sessions judge for having kept his mobile phone in the courtroom, saying the gesture undermined not only the dignity of the judge concerned but CJP’s office.
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The body also heaped scorn on the top judge for having entered the courtroom with scores of reporters who broadcast the proceedings.
‘The bar supports transparency and accountability in the judicial system but not by carrying out a reality show on live television,’ the resolution notes adding that court inspections should be conducted by quietly entering the court unannounced.
The most ‘harsh’ part of the resolution is about the behaviour of the top judge equated with an SHO (Station House Officer).
CJP’s “behaviour with judges of lower courts should not resemble an SHO disciplining an errand sepoy or a wadera (landlord) with his haris (sharecropper)”.
The lawyers’ body also expressed dismay at the instructions passed by CJP regarding the affairs related to multi-billion Dollars, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor that entire judicial fraternity supports them.
Judiciary can neither support, nor oppose any foreign power or investment programme but merely decides cases before it according to law, the resolution stresses.
The lawyers associated with the bar also cited the statement of the puisne judge, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, who observed that the final frontier of judicial independence is when judges are able to decide cases without having to tow the line of the institution to which he belongs.
The Bar association demanded that the CJP urgently convenes “a full court meeting of the apex court to discuss concrete steps to redress the adverse repercussions (of the CJP’s acts) and to ensure that all judges are enabled to decide cases independently and restore public confidence in the judiciary as a whole”.
