I pray my verdicts bring to fore pious, honest person: CJP

LAHORE: The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mian Saqib Nisar, has said: “May Allah Almighty give me the strength to pronounce such verdicts which could help a pious, honest and competent person come to the fore (and take over this country). Only then this country would become a nation state in the real sense.” He said this in a recent one-on-one meeting with senior journalist Javed Chaudhry on March 19. Here are a few excerpts from the interview. He said: “I feel most helpless with my own department (judiciary). “Yesterday, I told the high court judges that one day of a high court judge costs the country Rs45,000 rupees. And if eight holidays in a month are also considered, the cost goes up to 60-65 thousand rupees a day. “But a high court judge decides 1.4 cases in a day on an average, which is a very poor performance. “I begged the judges with all humility that they should work hard for God’s sake, as the country can no more afford injustice and delay (in disposal of cases).”

Addressing the writer, the chief justice said: “I give you the authority. Whenever you feel that I am exceeding my (constitutional) limits, you call me and tell me about that; and I will beg the whole nation’s pardon over it.”

Justice Saqib Nisar regretted that the Punjab government had given hospitals waste disposal contract to such a company whose both heads are not only uneducated and inexperienced in the field but also unaware of the sensitivity attached with disposal of the waste. “I called them and asked them where they had installed incinerators to dispose of the hospital waste, and they had no answer. “I know they are only front men, and somebody else is behind them. And that guy is eating up state’s crores of rupees every month. “This dishonesty has, in fact, planted hundreds of bombs of fatal diseases in the Lahore city. “You just investigate, ‘who’s this guy ‘Ali’, and how he extracted the (hospital waste disposal) contract?” the chief justice asked the interviewer.

“I called the Sindh chief minister in the court, showed him (contaminated) drinking water (being supplied by the government in Karachi), and asked him to take a glass of it along with me. And he was speechless.”

The chief justice said: “We, judges, are also human beings… We are also Pakistanis, and we are not living in space. Should we just close our eyes (to the problems facing the country)? Should we just let the country face devastation? Should we just let it disintegrate? You tell me, what should we do?”

Justice Saqib Nisar said: “I would like to stay alive in the judicial history (of Pakistan) just like Justice (Alvin Robert) Cornelius and Justice Hamoodur Rahman. “I would not keep mum. I would even stage a sit-in if need arises so, but I would force the bureaucracy and politicians to do their work. “It could no more happen that (ordinary) people keep dying, and the ruling elite keep filling their pockets and satiating their hunger (for more and more wealth).”

After a short pause, the chief justice said: “You are a Punjabi… you are aware of terminologies of an uljhi duor (entangled twine) and a bullock cart stuck in the mud. “In Punjab, when a bullock cart is stuck in the mud, the rich unload their luggage from it, take another vehicle and just go away. “Those belonging to upper middle class sit in the shade and the workers keep pushing the cart. “Pakistan has been turned into such a cart now. The privileged class is shifting to other countries, along with their belongings, and the bureaucracy is sitting in the shade, taking rest. “And the helpless, poor masses are pushing the stuck up cart. “I am not ready to join the ranks of the former two classes; neither I will play the role of a silent spectator, nor go abroad, along with my luggage.”

The chief justice swore that till date he had never been approached by any persons or any authority for seeking any specific verdict. “Nobody would dare so; and if anybody would do so, I would not spare him at all.”

When the interviewer asked why the apex court verdicts are becoming controversial, and why Mian Nawaz Sharif is asking the chief justice again and again as to why he was ousted, Justice Saqib Nisar replied with complete seriousness: “Everybody in the world can raise an objection over any court verdict, but nobody has the right to insult any institution of the country.

“You must be aware of the controversy involving presidential election of (George W) Bush and Al Gore. The American Supreme Court had ruled in favour of President Bush in 2000. But the verdict is considered controversial even today. “The legal experts and judges say it even today that they must have seen more evidence before pronouncing the verdict, or they must have focused on some particular point. “But Al Gore not only accepted that verdict but also left the scene once and for all.

When the interviewer asked the CJP about the future of Mian Nawaz Sharif, he said: “It is totally up to Mian Sahib and the Accountability Court now. Justice will be done to him at any cost, but he will have to prove his innocence there.”

When the interviewer asked the CJP, “Sir, what you want to do? What’s your goal,” he immediately said: “I want conduct of a free and fair election, and accountability across the board.” When asked if the accountability would take place before or after the elections, the chief justice said: “I can’t say anything right now, please note whenever accountability would take place, it would be impartial.” “The issue of delimitation has not been resolved yet. I fear the matter would linger on and the responsibility would be passed on to the caretakers.

“It may revive the Doctrine of Necessity once again, which would not augur well for the country. I wish the government resolves this issue before completion of its term, so that election is not delayed.”

The interviewer asked what he was foreseeing after the elections. The chief justice said: “I wish may Allah Almighty bless this country with a ruler like Hazrat Umar Farooq (RA), who takes over the reins of this country after having shed burden on his shoulders, sits on the ground (like the common people) and holds the hands of the people of this country, who have been yearning (for justice and prosperity) for the last 70 years. I pray only for this.”

“May Allah Almighty give me the strength to pronounce such verdicts which could help a pious, honest and competent person come to the fore (and take over this country). Only then this country would become a nation state in a real sense.”