ILF members to file petitions against SC verdict in Justice Isa case

ISLAMABAD: The lawyers on Thursday demanded that the accountability should be without discrimination and urged bar associations to refrain from alliance with political parties which people rejected in the general elections. Lawyers made these demands in a Punjab lawyers' representative convention held here in a local hotel organised by Insaf Lawyers Forum (ILF) with the title 'Justice For All'.

According to the declaration issued after the convention, the Supreme Judicial Council's importance could not be minimised. The lawyers stated that they would file constitutional petitions in the Supreme Court to annul the April 26 decision in Justice Qazi Faez Isa case. The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) had no authority to issue declarations on daily basis, they added.

They said that the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) was the only forum for the accountability of judges. Decision in Justice Qazi Faez Isa case without hearing the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) was beyond comprehension, they added. They said that the judges of the superior courts were not above accountability. They said that the government believed in freedom of media and yellow journalism could not be praised.

Member Punjab Bar Council Haroon Irshad Janjua while addressing the gathering said that lawyers were concerned after the Supreme Court's review decision in Justice Qazi Faez Isa case. Chaudhry Faisal Farid said that the legal fraternity always stood for the supremacy of Constitution.

He said that the importance of the SJC could not be compromised as it was a constitutional body for holding judges of the higher judiciary accountable under Articles 209 and 211 of the Constitution. – APP

Our correspondent adds: The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) has directed the provincial as well as Islamabad bar councils to initiate disciplinary proceedings against the office-bearers of those bar associations, who passed a resolution against the judges of the Supreme Court on the desire of Federal Law Minister Farogh Naseem. A press release issued from the office of the PB, situated at the Supreme Court building, stated that the federal and provincial governments are bound under Section 57 of the Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils Act 1973 to provide grant-in-aid to the bar councils/associations.It is not a personal money of the law minister, said the press release. The PBC vice chairman condemned the conduct of Farogh Naseem regarding an alleged move to link the provision of grant-in-aid to bar associations, pressurising them to pass the resolution against the judges of the Supreme Court, especially Justice Qazi Faez Isa. The press release stated that the lawyers would protect independent judges and would go to any extent for the independence of judiciary and rule of law. It also criticised that Farogh is using grant-in-aid as a tool to get support of the lawyers’ community against independent judges.