Lawyers seek local representation in IHC judge appointments

Lawyers in the federal capital have demanded that judges of the Islamabad High Court be appointed from Islamabad itself, saying they are not opposed to a provincial quota for the high court but believe that after appointing one judge from each province, the remaining judges should be selected from lawyers registered with the Islamabad Bar Council.

They also reiterated their demand for the rotation of district judges while alleging corruption within the district judiciary.

The lawyers rejected the Judicial Commission's decision that vacancies created by transferred judges should be filled through transferred judges as well.

Representatives of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association, Islamabad District Bar Association, Pakistan Bar Council and Islamabad Bar Council addressed a joint press conference.

Islamabad Bar Council member Raja Aleem Abbasi said the loudest complaints of corruption were coming from the district judiciary and that bribery was rampant in the subordinate courts.

"All district judiciary officials in Islamabad should be transferred. If justice continues to be sold, people will lose confidence in the judiciary," he said.

He urged the chief justice of the Islamabad High Court to take notice, saying justice was being undermined in the subordinate courts. "Corruption is the biggest problem in the judiciary," he added.

Abbasi said honest judges should be appointed even if their understanding of the law was weak. "A judge must be honest; we can teach him the law," he said, calling on the National Judicial Policy Making Committee to address the issue.

He warned that lawyers would convene a nationwide convention if their legitimate demands were not met.

Islamabad District Bar President Chaudhry Naeem Gujar said judges often claimed they were acting on instructions from above. He alleged that institutions' names were being used to justify weak decisions and that district judges were seeking to avoid transfers.

"There may be an occasional case involving national security, but here the names of institutions are being invoked in almost every case," he said.

He further alleged that political interference in the judiciary had increased significantly and claimed that political parties were securing appointments and promotions for their preferred individuals.