Nod of approval: SCBA satisfied with existing judiciary: Asma Jahangir

Bar president says previous judicial setup was subservient.

KARACHI:

The president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), Asma Jahangir has said that the SCBA is happy with the performance of the current judiciary even though there are some areas of concern.

She said this while speaking on ‘Meet the Press’ at the Karachi press club on Saturday. “The previous judicial setup was subservient to the government and it was essentially the establishment’s judiciary. In the current judicial setup, the faces might be the same but their thinking is not. We are happy with their performance and we welcome them,” Jahangir said.

She did, however, point out that senior judges being representatives of bar associations was an area of concern. She emphasised that it is the duty and social obligation to see that the judiciary is independent, and any efforts to undermining that independence should be challenged.

“The judiciary has handled most cases very well but in certain cases, we feel revenge has dictated judgment, and that is against the honor of the judiciary. We have seen cases where the decision was made first and it was debated later why that decision was made.” Jahangir demanded that in completed and complex constitutional matters, the judiciary should give detail judgments as interim judgments create uncertainty while ending complicated cases with a single word or sentence.

Criticising the appointments of judges, she said: “We should first have appointments for the seats of high courts as they are running at half their strength. As a result, people are taking their cases to Panchayats (tribal courts).” She was also critical of the law and order situation and the violation of human rights in the country. “People are tortured at every police station. Our administration has given complete impunity to the security forces, and they think that it is their right to arrest someone and then torture them.”

Jahangir also lashed out at the government for its failure to control lawlessness. “There is no value for human life over here. Anyone can become a target of someone’s bullet. If you don’t become the target of a criminal’s bullet then you will become the target of your own security person’s bullet.” She also demanded justice for the two lawyers of Karachi who were killed.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 22^nd, 2011.