LAHORE - Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar said on Friday nobody would be allowed to politicise the Supreme Court.
Speaking at a dinner hosted in his honour by the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA), the chief justice said, “The judiciary is a free and independent institution.” He said, “A new trend of romance with the Supreme Court has emerged.”
Chief justice’s remarks have come at a time when heavy billboards have been installed by some political parties in parts of the country showing pictures of Justice Nisar and Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa. “Except lawyers, we don’t need anyone’s support,” the CJP said.
The top judge said that decisions of a judge would become his identity. He said that courts were forced to take action on violations of fundamental rights. He said that courts had to protect fundamental rights of the citizens. Had the state performed well, he said, courts would not have taken up any such action.
The chief justice mentioned suggestion of a senior judge, Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, about live media coverage of proceedings of human rights cases. He said they would not allow anyone to criticise the judiciary. He shed light on relations between the bar and the bench and said that bar and the bench were integral part of each other. Bars, he said, always safeguarded the judiciary. “We, the bar and the bench, are brothers from one mother,” the chief justice said, adding that “minor differences among them are signs of great love with each other.”
The chief justice said they would also interview the nominees before their elevation to high courts. He asked the Lahore High Court chief justice to submit names of the most competent lawyers after consultations with the bar to fill the vacant posts of judges in the high court.
On this occasion, lawyers conveyed to the chief justice their reservations about the newly-introduced IT system at the Lahore High Court. The chief justice said that use of the latest technology was need of the hour. However, he said, he would request the LHC chief justice to overcome the problems in the IT system.
Earlier, LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Yawar Ali and LHCBA President Anwarul Haq Pannu addressed the gathering.
Judges of the Supreme Court and Lahore High Court were also present on the occasion.
