Protecting democracy: PHC chief justice vows to honour his oath

New cabinet members inducted in district bar association.

PESHAWAR:

In the backdrop of current events, Peshawar High Court (PHC) Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan said he had taken an oath to thwart every ‘unconstitutional attempt’ against democracy.

CJ Khan said that some decisions taken are posing external and internal threats to democracy and insisted that the “law was above all.”

“We have categorically said that everyone is a subject of the constitution.

Judiciary in this country should never compromise the supremacy of the law,” CJ Khan said, adding that the matter needs to be taken seriously by the country’s leaders.

He stressed that lawyers need to perform their duties and take a stand against cases violating basic human rights, adding that this was at the core of the legal fraternity.

“Let me revise the famous words of Churchill,” he said, adding “If the judiciary is independent, integrity, sovereignty and independence of our country can never be threatened.”

He stressed again that the judiciary will not hesitate to offer sacrifices to defend the ‘integrity, sovereignty and stability’ of the country.

Earlier, CJ Khan inaugurated a newly constructed building of the judicial complex where newly elected cabinet of the district bar association took oath.

Judges, members of bar associations, the advocate and deputy advocate general and deputy attorney general were also present at the ceremony.

Cabinet members applauded CJ Khan’s efforts for supporting the legal fraternity and for increasing their working capability.

They also vowed to extend their support to the judiciary and take a stand against all conspiracies that could pose threats to the independence of the judiciary.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 17^th, 2012.