Maiden move: Chief justice to make rare appearance in Senate

Anwar Jamali will assist house in pursuing speedy and inexpensive justice to the masses

ISLAMABAD: In an unprecedented move with no parallel in parliamentary history, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) on Tuesday (today) will attend a meeting of the Senate committee to assist members of the upper house in their pursuit of providing speedy and inexpensive justice to the masses.

The announcement that Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali would attend the meeting of the Senate body, working on improving the judicial system of the country, was made by Chairman Raza Rabbani.

The chairman acknowledged the fact that it is for the first time that CJP is attending a Senate meeting with an acknowledgment that former chief justice Jawwad S Khawaja had invited him to the Supreme Court.



During the proceedings, Senator Taj Haider of the Pakistan Peoples Party introduced a bill seeking amendment in National Accountability Ordinance 1999.  The government did not oppose the bill and suggested it be referred to the relevant standing committee for further deliberations.

“The bill seeks to delete the provisions extending the jurisdiction of NAB [National Accountability Bureau] in departments of provincial governments from the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999,” said the statement of objects and reasons of the bill.

The bill has proposed limiting the jurisdiction of federal departments through 7th Amendments. If passed, the NAB, FIA or other departments might not be able to go for an accountability campaign the way it took place in recent months, particularly in Sindh.

During the discussion on the recent earthquake, Raza Rabbani termed the disaster management authorities “white elephants” and directed the Senate Committee on Cabinet to prepare a report on their capacity, performance, liaison with provincial and federal governments by next Tuesday.

The Senate chairman also lamented over the fact that there was perhaps no record of children who were orphaned in the 2005 earthquake, saying “what kind of state is this which cannot give shelter to its children”.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2015.