Unpopular views: ‘Politics behind PCO judges verdict’

LAHORE:

Lawyer Irfan Qadir caused a stir at the concluding session of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) conference on Sunday when he accused the apex court of hypocrisy in its verdict against judges who took oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order of November 3, 2007.

The Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that these judges stood disqualified because they had taken oath under the PCO after Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had prohibited it. Qadir was appointed a judge of the Lahore High Court after he took oath under the PCO.

Local lawyers in the audience objected to the speaker’s criticism and called to him not to discuss such matters when several foreign delegates were in attendance. They said that the Lahore High Court Bar Association was a more suitable forum for the subject.

SCBA President Asma Jahangir stepped in and urged the audience to be quiet. She said the bar believed in freedom of expression and the speaker had a right to his opinion.

Qadir resumed his speech and said while the judges who had taken oath under the 2007 PCO had been sent home, the many judges who had been sworn into office under similar PCOs issued by military dictators continued to serve in the judiciary. He said the generals and politicians who had taken oath under the PCO had not been prosecuted. He said sending the ‘PCO judges’ back was a political decision.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12^th,  2011.