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Posts tagged with: chief Justice
Aug 2, 2013    |       6 comments

Open Letter to CJP: Contempt of Court against Imran Khan

I am with Imran KhanHonrable Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry,
Chief Justice Pakistan,
Supreme Court of Pakistan

I couldn’t resist but write you some fan mail after seeing that you were trending as number 1 on twitter worldwide. Now that is an achievement! I’m sure you must’ve been trending a few years ago as well when party workers and general public got beaten black and blue so you, as a symbol of justice, could be restored into the judiciary. Imran Khan doesn’t have quite as exciting memories from back then, as he was stuck in jail standing for what you supposedly stood for. Forget these petty details though, who cares!

It’s been an interesting few years since then right? Your gravity defying zero force ‘tilt’ to PML-N is quite frankly nauseating but on the bright side you have developed a unique quality of inspiring some pretty interesting emotions in people across different provinces, parties and professions. Wow. So feel free to share that with the people out there who think that you have delivered nothing of significance over the past few years, how wrong they are.

I heard about this thing that happened in Pakistan recently. What was it again, I can’t remember, um hang on it will come to me…oh yes I remember! Rigging! You know that thing that was riper than a Jamaican mango in these elections, yes that. I didn’t get to vote myself but luckily I came across same pakora paper the other day which had a balla stamped on it so I felt very privileged to have my bit of election action! So thanks for not acknowledging anything about this rigging business, maybe next time there would be enough stamped ballots for us to distribute as toilet paper amongst the needy – I do need to pop a bit of social work on my C.V.
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Nov 2, 2012    |      Comments Off on Supreme Court Petition for Peace & De-weaponization of Karachi

Supreme Court Petition for Peace & De-weaponization of Karachi

The following petition was sent to the Supreme Court on 1st November 2012 for Peace & De-Weaponization of Karachi – The petition was spearheaded by Mr. Naeem Sadiq with nine other petitioners and I personally am honored that he asked me to sign this petition – Considering the lawlessness in Karachi the pressure needs to be sustained on the judiciary to clamp down hard on this deteriorating situation

A meesage to others also wanting to take similar action by Naeem Sadiq was “If you agree with its contents, you may use this or make a similar petition and post it at the Supreme Court address. (Please DO NOT email as it is possibly an easier option but of no significance).

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Sep 8, 2011    |       6 comments

We, The Citizens appeal to CJP for becoming a party to Karachi’s Law & Order Suo Moto Case

In our ongoing effort by the Movement for Deweaponization [MFD] in Pakistan the core group of citizens leading the effort have officially applied to the Chief Justice of Pakistan for becoming a party to the Suo Moto case regarding the Law and Order situation in Karachi. Its ironic the proceedings are underway, but there is no one representing the main victims ie. The People of Karachi. I truly love the way the letter starts “WE, THE CITIZENS” its taking ownership of this issue in a definitive way, it is a message to say, that we, the people of Karachi will no longer tolerate being held hostage to the terrorizing politicians that govern us

WE, THE CITIZENS Appeal to the Chief Justice for becoming a Party to the Suo Moto case regarding the Law and Order situation in Karachi.

Violence, confrontation and polarization, especially in Karachi, have caused misery and destroyed the life, liberty and spirit of our people.

The citizens of Karachi are the most affected victims of the on-going violence and lawlessness. We believe that peace is impossible in Karachi without total compulsory confiscation of all firearms (licensed or otherwise) from gangs, political parties and all individuals.

We the undersigned citizens appeal to your honor to let us voice our views on this vital issue by becoming a party to the Suo Moto case being heard by your Honor on the Law and Order Situation in Karachi.

  1. Hamid Maker
  2. Jameel Yusuf
  3. Kamyla Marvi Tapal
  4. Majida Razvi
  5. Naeem Sadiq
  6. Nazim F. Haji
  7. Dr. Awab Alvi
  8. Farieha Aziz
  9. Noman Qaudri
  10. Uzma Aslam
Sep 6, 2011    |       5 comments

Citizens appeal to CJ for complete De-Weapomisation of Karachi

Considering the deteriorating situation in Pakistan, a group of citizens Movement for De-Weaponisation have started an effort to lobby for ways to help de-weaponize Karachi and also Pakistan, it is undoubtedly a long and portracted effort, but it is our core belief that the initiative must be taken to help cleanse Karachi of its stockpiles of weapons that are used to kill its very own citizens. As a first step in the effort an appeal has been filed with the Supreme Court to lobby for de-weaponisation of Karachi to become a party to the ongoing Suo Moto Hearing on Karachi’s Violence

ہتیار سے انکار

 

Mr. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
September 6, 2011

Honourable Chief Justice
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Sub: Appeal for complete De-weaponisation of Karachi

Your Honour,

Violence, confrontation and polarization, especially in Karachi, have caused misery and destroyed the life, liberty and spirit of our people. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan states that over a thousand persons were killed in Karachi in the first six months of 2011. More than 600 others were killed in July and August making this the bloodiest year ever.

Armed gangs of land-grabbers and mafias have exploited the chaos. It is however generally felt that the real ownership of this horrible game of death and destruction lies with the powerful political, religious and criminal groups.
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Dec 26, 2009    |       3 comments

The Biharis, The Non Bengalis, The Stateless or The Pakistanis!

By Dr. Mujahid Ghazi

It is 16th December. Every year this day reminds me of the painful event in 1971 when Sonar Bangla, the East Pakistan fell and hundreds and thousands of patriotic Pakistanis became prisoners of ego and lost everything including their citizenship and became stateless. After 38 years those Pakistanis along with the next two generations born in the mean time are still stateless. About 300 thousand of these people are living in miserable conditions in 70 camps scattered in various regions of Bangla Desh. There hopes of repatriation to Pakistan have been exploited by different governments and political parties every now and then. The Secretary General of Stranded Pakistanis General Repatriation Council (SPGRC) Mr. Haroon ur Rasheed in a recent interview disclosed that Gen. Zia ul Haq was committed to repatriate these people and a Rabita Trust was established in 1988 for this purpose but unfortunately he was killed in the plane crash.

Listen to the interview of Haroon ur Rasheed with Dr. Mujahid Ghazi from ABN Chicago this last week [audio: ABN-Stranded-Pakistani-Haroon-Rasheed.mp3]

He also said that the only other person who was sincere was Nawaz Shareef, who started the repatriation by providing houses in Mian Chunnoo in Punjab. After only 325 persons of first 56 families were repatriated his government was taken over by General Musharraf and the whole matter went into cold storage.
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Dec 25, 2009    |       8 comments

16 Dec decision of Supreme Court – A Critical Analysis

By Barrister Amjad Malik

16 Dec Supreme Court short order was an expected response of superior judiciary. Federation and all provinces through their lawyers jointly consented to its repeal, and none came to rescue the beneficiaries and even academic discussion was not made possible on the topic of powers to issue and right course of action to dispose off a bad law. 342 members of the Parliament jointly expressed their unwillingness to discuss and vote out this notorious ordinance despite the fact that it relates to them and their future on the whole as a club, and any order would have far reaching implications on the future of their brethrens good or bad. In that situation, what do you expect from judges.

They could not invent a defence for that ordinance so hated by the majority of the people, media and intelligentsia. If politicians were expecting leniency or a different judgment, its their own fault, and the problem lies with their capacity or capability not with the short order of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. On 5 August the writer in response to 31 July 09 decision which scrapped Gen Musharraf’s 3rd Nov PCO and emergency and wrote,

“Overall, a welcoming order, full of happy tidings, but similar amount of flaws, unaddressed anomalies, and legal circles expect a lot more explanation in detailed judgement, and I hope the order does the job in the end. This order is also reflection of various ‘compulsions’ under which Pakistani society goes through daily. The short order incites that there is more to come, and a detailed judgement will open a lot of avenues for further litigation. On the outset, Superior Court is mindful of the limitations they are working under and one can say that the decision has set the track on which SC is likely to go in near future. However, it is not a final decision, this is part of a series of decisions we must expect in the days to come”.
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Nov 26, 2009    |       11 comments

So what it’s just the NRO!

By: Agha Haider Raza

So the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) beneficiaries list comes out.  The media is happy that those persons who enjoyed taking advantage of the NRO have light casted upon them, while the government is trying to push forward the argument of how they have respected the Supreme Court’s judgment and have publicized the list.  It seems to be a win-win situation for all parties.  But is it really?  Calls for the resignation of ministries and portfolios have echoed from all corners.  How has this zero-sum game turned into a finger-pointing-name-calling battle?

As we all now know, the NRO was a ‘bail-out’ for politicians and businessmen, giving them a clean sheet.  This not only cleared the way for billions of rupees to be kept in the hands of defaulters, but also allowed plenty of politicians to get re-elected as their corruption charges were taken out of the court as well.  Though many readers would say that I am playing the ethnic card here, I’d like to know why 96% of the beneficiaries are Sindhi’s?  Secondly, if the PPP, claims itself to be a liberal-democratic party, why have they not asked for a majority vote on such a sensitive issue? After all, the billions of rupees that have been siphoned through this ordinance are Pakistani’s money, not the beneficiaries.  Why should this debt be written off?
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Mar 8, 2009    |       10 comments

Method of Appointing Judges

Extracted from an email sent by the Emergency Moderator to the Emergency Mailing List on 8th March 2009

Guess: Zardari or MusharrafAs stated a few days back, we are circulating a proposal on the method of appointing judges that is somewhat more detailed than the one given in the charter of democracy. In the mean time, the PPP has appointed another chamcha as the Islamabad High Court CJ. This is on top of the induction of 16 jiala judges in the LHC (Lahore High Court). All these appointments must be rejected, the judiciary should be unconditionally returned back to the Nov 2 status, with all post-Nov 3 appointments reversed. New appointments should then be based on a formula that ensures that no political party is able to install its own chamchas in the judiciary. This is the only way to ensure the real independence of the judiciary, and nothing short of this should be accepted by the civil society.

Coming to the proposal we are sharing, it is not our original idea, but is being taken from a 4-part series of articles by Salahuddin Ahmed in June last year. This can be a good starting point for a serious attempt to design a new system that makes the judiciary genuinely independent.

Those seriously interested in the subject should go to the links below and read all four of these articles completely, but I am also quoting the most relevant parts from these pieces right after the links.
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Mar 4, 2009    |       3 comments

Mr. Zardari remained Mr. Zardari afterall

Guest blog by Amjad Malik, MA, LLM

Zardari MetamorphosisI wrote on 7 September 2008 that the litmus test for Mr. Zardari to prove whether he is an ‘don’ or an originator of a new dawn of democracy in Pakistan depends on his progress on 5 things: a) how he handles absolute power, b) his party, c) chief justice issue, d) charter of democracy and e) foreign policy. Looking at his performance in first 12 months, it is unfortunate that he is trailing on all. He could not father the nation and confined himself to the meager position of his party chairmanship and handles his party petty matters at President House, thus making it virtually impossible to look at PML with the same affection as required by the constitution bring his very office into a conflict & disrepute. He enjoys all the powers which ideally should have been assigned to his party premier, but he did not.

Drone attacks and missiles in Fata are still falling randomly, a bitter reality, and he has not taken concrete steps to implement sacred historic charter duly signed by his wife in London on 14 May 2006 which has a hope for the nation in decades to come. He not only backed out on his promises, & written agreements on judiciary, but humiliated the chief justice and went one step ahead by appointing higher court judges on whole sale basis without consensus, and consultation with provincial Govt in question & his partners in COD, thus he violated the charter which can save the Federation and civil rule in the country. He gathered a team of non elected commodity around him and has cornered opposition. He has ordered Governor Rule and let loose his fiery aide in Punjab to blow fire on opposition leaders. First he lost credibility of his words, his faith in democracy and now his respect amongst his peers.
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Oct 10, 2008    |       11 comments

PBC suspends lawyers: What Musharraf could not do!

Guest post by Silence from Islamabad Observer blog

The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) has suspended the practicing licences of advocates Mahmood Ashraf and Rana Naveed, President and General Secretary, respectively of the Lahore High Court (Multan bench) for allegedly misbehaving with Latif Khosa, Attorney General of Pakistan, who also acts as an ex-officio Chairman of PBC. The PBC also restrained them from functioning as office bearers and operating the Bar accounts.

According to details, High Court Bar Association of Multan had banned Sardar Latif Khosa’s entry in Multan High Court Bar in a meeting of ‘General House’, yet he arrived at High Court Bar accompanied by lawyers belonging to People’s Lawyers Forum. The Secretary Bar, Rana Naveed and some other lawyers objected to Khosa’s presence there and ask him to leave and started to chant slogans demanding restoration of Chief Justice of Pakistan, Ifthakhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

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Oct 5, 2008    |       10 comments

Margalla Towers tragedy – Builder being compensated

We all must vividly recall the tragedy that struck Pakistan three years back on October 8th 2005 when a massive earthquake shook the life out of Pakistan. Images flashed across our screens moments later of devastation with hundreds dead and thousands injured, in those panic stricken days many visuals flashed across our screens but the collapsed towers of Margalla apartments probably shook the world more so, as this tragedy was attributed not entirely to the earthquake but instead claimed 72 previous lives as the builder deliberately had used faulty material in its construction

After struggling for over two years the family members of the 72 victims of the Margalla Towers were able to move the motion in the Supreme Court whereby the then Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry ordered the CDA and the original builder to compensate the victims, this order was given whilst the criminal proceedings still lingered on. Surprisingly on September 11th 2008 a month back the new Chief Justice of Pakistan Abdul Hameed Dogar ordered the CDA, without taking into consultation the victims and their families, to finally release the controversial land back into the hands of the original builder

In all honesty this seems to be a very suspicious move, firstly its being done without taking into consideration the pending criminal case outstanding against the builder for this heinous crime, whilst more importantly this decision allows the builder to run scott free as the property and wealth can be immediately liquidated and hence forth the builder can then conveniently drag the case as long as he wants as then he will not be pressed for any financial concern.

Might I dare say this is just another prime example of injustice we can hope to get from such an ‘influenced’ system. I share with you the email sent by the family members of the victims of Margalla Towers including the order published by the Dogar court, though I also remain open to a better understanding of what this order entails and its ultimate impact in providing justice to the few victims that perished on 8th October 2005
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Oct 3, 2008    |       13 comments

Tariq Ali speaks about Pakistan Current Situation

Guest Blog by Yaseen Khawar of Pakistanic.com

Tariq Ali s a renowned Pakistani intellectual of world reputation resides in U.K but visits Pakistan from time to time. Recently he gave an interview to Amy Goodman, It is presented here:

Amy Goodman: Recently Pakistani border security forces have stopped American army to cross the Pak Afghan border and do an operation in Pakistani territory but Pakistan’s army open fire on their helicopter. How would you comment on this?

Tariq Ali: I think circumstances have become quite dangerous. It is the point of discussion in American administration since last year whether to do operation inside Pakistan’s territory but there is a strong lobby inside U.S administration which says that if U.S operated inside Pakistan it will benefit those elements against which U.S is doing operation.

Amy Goodman: How?

Tariq Ali: When pushtoon population of North West Frontier Province will see that America has started operation against them, they will join Taliban inside Afghanistan to strengthen resistance.
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Sep 29, 2008    |       2 comments

American Lawyers conference on rule of law in Pakistan & my brief visit to Europe

Guest Blog by Amjad Malik

I was invited by British Law Society of England to visit Brussels as part of their delegation to attend a rule of law conference on ‘Pakistan and beyond’ organised by American Bar Association (ABA) on 25th September at Hilton (Brussels). Reaching Brussels airport in the morning, I caught a cab and reached Hilton at the time of the conference and met Cricketing legend Imran Khan in the lift with his party entourage which was a pleasant beginning. When we all reached the designated room for conference at 25th Floor, the room was more or less occupied. A lot of people were keen have a glimpse of Imran Khan and a few specially came to listen to Supreme Court Bar President Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan who could not join us at the conference due to lack of in time delivery of his teams visas, though I feel he missed a great opportunity to talk on the subject where various old guns of American law industry were present.
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Sep 14, 2008    |       7 comments

The Lawyers Movement – Achievements and Challenges

By Faisal Siddiqi
Advocate

Is it time to write the obituary of the lawyer’s movement? Or will this lawyer’s movement never be defeated because history and truth (and some say, God) is on our side?. The aforementioned responses are the two opposite responses given to the current impasse in the lawyer’s movement. The former response suffers from opportunistic scepticism and the latter response from irrational optimism. What is required is to avoid both these extreme positions. The lawyer’s movement urgently requires to build on it’s achievements, to learn from it’s past mistakes and to objectively analyze it’s future challenges in order to determine it’s goals and devise a realistic strategy to achieve these goals. The lawyer’s movement can neither go home in despair nor carry on with the same old script and strategy of their struggle.

What, has been and is, the principle objective of the lawyer’s movement? To restore, enhance and preserve the independence of the judiciary from both executive and legislative domination. The battle ground for this objective has been the restoration, enhancement and preservation of independent judges. In striving for this principle objective of the independence of the judiciary, the lawyer’s movement has also been the warrior brigade for the intrinsically linked objective of constitutional democracy in Pakistan. One doesnot want to sound arrogant or blow one’s own trumpet but in terms of the aforementioned objectives, the lawyer’s movement has been remarkably successful and there seems to be no rational reason for scepticism or for irrational bouts of despair and despondency.
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Aug 20, 2008    |       14 comments

The Supremacy of The People – An Open Letter To Mr. Zardari

Dear Mr. Zardari,

I am sick and tired of you –and all your party stalwarts- constantly drumming into our ears your ideas about the supremacy of The Parliament. I have yet to hear you talk so forcefully about the supremacy of The Constitution or even of the supremacy of The People as the Bhutto’s used to do .More over you even flout your own so fondly repeated slogan by continuing to take every meaningful decision outside the parliament !

What may I ask was so wrong with roti, kapra aur makan slogan given by Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto? Has it become so impossible to achieve that you conveniently discarded it and adopt the hallow and patently false one you now profess? What is Parliament except a reflection and representative of the people who elected it –and pledged to uphold The Constitution of Pakistan as reflected in that will. Where in this entire concept do you see a supremacy of Parliament? We need to remind you –for you and your party seems to have forgotten – that the Parliament is subservient to the Constitution and a servant of the people.
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