Merit is being compromised: Asma

Asma says she never faced any pressure from govt during her tenure.

LAHORE:

Since no woman has been elevated to the bench, it is clear that merit is not being observed in appointment of judges, Supreme Court Bar Association president Asma Jahangir said on Tuesday.

While the judiciary is a reliable institution, there is no concept of justice without democracy, she said, adding however, that the judiciary is performing its constitutional duty by monitoring the government’s performance. Government functionaries cannot influence the judiciary any longer, she said in her address to at the annual meeting of the SCBA executive committee at the Supreme Court’s Lahore registry.

Asma said she had never faced any pressure from the government during her tenure and appreciated the lawyers for launching a movement for the independence of the judiciary. However, she made it a point to add that her struggle had not started with the lawyers’ movement and hence, would not end with it either.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26^th, 2011.