Lawyers use fists, kicks instead of arguments these days: CJP

LAHORE: The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), Asif Saeed Khosa regretted that various lawyers fight their cases with kicks and fists instead of giving arguments in the courts of law.

He was addressing the launching ceremony of a book, ‘History of Pakistan Reinterpreted’, written by Senator SM Zafar, at a local hotel here on Saturday. He said lawyers used to fight cases with their intellect and professional competence in the past, but the situation has changed now. He said success in legal practice lies only in hard work.

The chief justice said most of the analysts (sitting at TV talk shows) start commenting on the court decisions even without reading the full judgments and without having the requisite knowledge of the laws. Justice Khosa said anything could be achieved if tasks are performed with positive thinking. He said judges should focus on the quality of cases by exploring facts and other dimensions and give verdicts with total honesty. "It is need of the hour to put our house in order," he urged the legal fraternity. He said judges work hard to give decisions with honesty, but those having least knowledge of the law start commenting on them in the evening. He told the audience that nothing is impossible once they work hard with positive thinking, adding judges need not get upset in any circumstances. "We have achieved significant success in the same system," he added.

The CJP said the model courts showed outstanding performance during the last four months and disposed of a number of cases for ensuring prompt justice to people. He appreciated that these courts disposed of 35,000 cases in just four months. Highlighting various aspects of SM Zafar’s book, the CJP said country’s history, the Two-Nation Theory, Pakistan Resolution and other concepts have been discussed in the book. He said the author has a great academic and advocacy achievements to his credit and the young lawyers should follow him in practicing the law.