Constitutional supremacy: Independent judiciary vital to democracy, says CJ

CJ says lawyers movement was the final victory of rule of law against the extra-constitutional regimes in Pakistan.

SARGODHA: Addressing a gathering of legal luminaries and jurists at the District Bar Association Sargodha, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, said that in any democratic system, the judiciary has to act independently just like other two state organs, the legislature and the executive, subject to certain constitutional restraints.

The principle of trichotomy of powers mandated by the Constitution of Pakistan aims at strengthening all the three pillars of States by giving them complete independence in their respective domains, CJ Chaudhry said.

Emphasising the importance of the judiciary, the chief justice added that as the custodian of the Constitution and the ultimate protector of the rights of citizens, it had to keep a check on extra-constitutional acts and the arbitrary exercise of power by other institutions so as to promote the democratic governance and rule of law.

Praising the lawyers’ movement in the post-emergency period of November 3, 2007, the chief justice said it was the final victory of the rule of law against the extra-constitutional regimes in Pakistan. Together, he claimed, they acted as a bulwark against the dictatorial rule of a General [former president Pervez Musharraf] and succeeded in upholding constitutional supremacy in Pakistan.