PBC nominates Yousaf Laghari for JCP slot

The nominee has played an active role against military dictatorship in the past

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) has nominated senior lawyer Yousaf Laghari as its new representative for the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP).

An important meeting of the PBC was held on Saturday for nomination of the new JCP member.  The meeting was chaired by the PBC Vice Chairman Ahsen Bhoon.

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Asma Jahangir group, which is known as the Democratic Lawyers Group, proposed the name of Yousaf Laghari as the new JCP member. Out of the total 23 PBC members, 12 endorsed Laghari’s name.

However, members belonging to Hamid Khan Group abstained from participating in the voting process. Laghari belongs to Sindh and has played an active role against military dictatorship in the past.  He will be the third representative of superior bar in the JCP.

Presently, Yasin Azad is the PBC’s representative in the JCP, whose two years tenure will come to an end next month. Azad has represented the superior bar in the JCP for the last four years.  Dr Khalid Ranjha was the first PBC representative to attend the JCP.

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However, majority members of the PBC refused to endorse a proposal of its member Raheel Kamran Sheikh who had urged the council to ask the superior judiciary to disclose criteria used for nominating high court judges.

It is learnt that though ten PBC members supported his resolution but Asma group rejected it.

Talking to The Express Tribune, the PBC vice chairman claimed that the council had already passed a number of similar resolutions in the past. “Therefore, there is no need to pass a fresh resolution on same matter,” he said.