PBC has reservations about superior court judges’ appointment

ISLAMABAD: The legal fraternity Thursday strongly criticised the role of Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) and announced to convene an all parties conference (APC) to develop consensus on changing the procedure for appointment of judges in the superior judiciary.

“The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) has become a consortium, which is appointing blue-eyed judges in the superior judiciary, abolishing completely the role of Parliamentary Committee,” said Vice Chairman Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) Abid Saqi at a crowded press conference in his office at the Supreme Court.

Earlier, a joint meeting of the members of the Coordination Committee of Pakistan Bar Council as well as Chairman Executive Committees of Pakistan and Provincial/Islamabad Bar Councils was held at its office in the Supreme Court.

The meeting was attended by all the members including, Tahir Nasrullah Warraich, Sher Muhammad Khan, Hafiz Muhammad Idrees, Haider Imam Rizvi, Shahzad Raza Malik, Qazi Rafi ud Din, Babar Jamil Asghar Bhatti, Shahid Riaz Burki, Khalid Anwar Afridi, Muhammad Arshad, Secretary PBC and others.

After the meeting, Abid Saqi with all the members of the Coordination Committees briefed the media about the decisions taken during the meeting.

Flanked by Syed Qalbe Hassan, President Supreme Court Bar Association, Azam Nazeer Tarar, Chairman Executive Committee PBC and others, Abid Saqi said the meeting had unanimously resolved to convene an APC in the mid of September wherein political forces would be taken into confidence and developing consensus for bringing drastic changes in the mode of procedure for appointment of judges in the superior judiciary.

He came down hard on the role of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan, a constitutional forum, established under the 18th Constitutional Amendment for appointment of judges in the superior judiciary and alleged that it was violating the spirit of merit.

The JCP has now become a consortium which is appointing its blue-eyed judges for the superior judiciary, abolishing completely the role of the Parliamentary Committee as well as giving no importance to the opinion of the representative of Pakistan Bar Council,” Abid Saqi said.

He also asked the Supreme Court for judicial restraint and avoid targeting a particular province, which was not its job. He said there was lack of transparency in the processes of appointment of judges on the part of the Commission adding that as judges in the Commission were in majority, therefore, the role of Parliamentary Committee had been totally abolished and importance was not given to the opinion of representative of Pakistan Bar Council.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Judicial Commission of Pakistan was established under the 18th Constitutional Amendment, which appoints judges to the Supreme Court, High Courts and Federal Shariat Court under Article 175-A of the Constitution.

The JCP consists of (i) Chief Justice of Pakistan - Chairman; four most senior Judges of the Supreme Court as Members, a former Chief Justice or a former Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to be nominated by the Chief Justice of Pakistan, in consultation with the [four] member Judges, for a term of two years - Member; Federal Minister for Law and Justice as Member, Attorney-General for Pakistan as Member, a Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan nominated by the Pakistan Bar Council for a term of two years as Member.

The Commission recommends the appointment of judges to the Parliamentary Committee, consist of eight members including four members from the Senate and four members from the National Assembly, which has the authority to approve or disapprove it.

Abid Saqi said apart from this, matters related to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) would also be raised during the APC adding that how a lawyer could share information to it about his clients adding that the government could not force the legal fraternity to share such kind of information about its clients.

He further said at present an environment had been created wherein freedom of expression was being suppressed adding that an environment of terror had been created pertaining to freedom of expression.

He said journalist Matiullah Jan was abducted and recovered the same day and it was only due to the timely action taken by the media otherwise he would have been sold out to “ Kharkar Camp”.

“Where the right of freedom of expression is snatched, such a society can be called a society of wild animals, Saqi said, adding that they have been fighting alone for the rule of law and supremacy of the constitution.

“But now we have decided to take along all the stakeholders and will fight at national level and in the all parties conference a National Charter of Demand will be presented for resolving all these issues

He said during the APC, the NAB law would also be deliberated, as it had been used for political victimization. He stressed it was the need of the hour that all the stakeholders, including political forces, human rights activists as well as the media, should forge unity during the APC as a national cause.

He said the Supreme Court was bent upon targeting a particular province, which was not its job, and it should restrain itself from doing so. "It’s a dangerous reaction on the part of the country’s highest court and it will cause a great loss to the Constitution as well as to the democratic process of the country, hence he is requested for a judicial restraint in this regard. He asked the Attorney General for Pakistan to play his constructive role as a law officer of the court and federation rather than representing a party.

"If efforts were made for sabotaging the Sindh government, then it will enter into a horrible situation and destabilization but we will not allow anyone to destabilize a province,” Saqi added.

To a question Syed Qalbe Hassan reiterated that they were united at one common platform and will support Justice Qazi Faez Isa adding that after the Supreme Court quashed the presidential reference against the judge, they had fielded a review petition in the apex court to the extent of its directions given to Federal Board of Revenue. Meanwhile, Abid Saqi said during their meeting, they had decided that the upcoming elections in the bar Council being held on November 14 will be conducted through the biometric system.