Justice Iftikhar protects scoundrels and ignores honest judges
Civil judges in Punjab rally against lawyer
Dawn Report
Saturday, 27 Mar, 2010
LAHORE, March 26: Judicial officers took to the streets on Friday in protest against slapping of a civil judge by a lawyer in Faisalabad earlier this week, highlighting tensions between the bench and the bar.
The civil judges wearing black armbands marched from civil courts to the district and sessions courts after performing judicial duties in their chambers instead of courts.
In Arifwala tehsil of Pakpattan district, four civil judges resigned to protest against the incident.
In Faisalabad, where the ugly incident took place on Monday, 45 sessions and civil judges from all over the district are on a strike.
On Friday, they went on leave saying they would not resume work until the accused advocate, Liaquat Javed, was appropriately penalised for insulting Civil Judge Tariq Mahmood Kahut.
The Lahore High Court on Thursday issued arrest warrants for Mr Javed and directed police to produce him handcuffed on March 30.
The LHC move annoyed the Faisalabad bar, which put its weight behind the accused and went on an indefinite strike, saying only the Punjab Bar Council was authorised to penalise a lawyer. As if this were not enough, the entire judiciary in Kasur district, comprising 30 sessions and civil judges, went on a two-day strike on Friday to protest against “the blackmail and pressure tactics being employed by the bar”. They also submitted to the LHC applications for month-long leave with a request to transfer them from Kasur.
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We are witnessing naked aggression of movement-hardened lawyers against sitting civil judges, and when the Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khawaja Sharif tried to brush aside the attitude of his “restoration-loyalists”, the lower judiciary followed the same course – resorting to boycotts to show their numbers in order to get the LHC CJ moving in the right direction.
Several episodes of lawyer versus judges, journalists and police might have added more feathers to the black-coats’ caps, but the cost of these clashes need consideration – both by the judiciary and the PML-N. If a birth in a rickshaw can be the cause of a suo motu notice, then many a buried cases like ISI funding (Asghar Khan) and Bahria Town (Malik Riaz) need a little attention. A lawmaker from the PML-N said a clear distinction could be drawn between lawyers who were part of the free-judiciary movement and those who were not.
Those who spent two years in struggle with the sacked judges have direct access to the CJ’s mobile numbers, and if any lower or higher judiciary judge fails to accommodate them, they simply dial the number to get the law official transferred.
Saeed Minhas
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\03\27\story_27-3-2010_pg7_1
Black sheep of the family
There is so much happening in this country; still it is hard not to feel strongly about certain things. Not many months ago, the lawyers were taking out protest rallies in support of the superior judiciary. Ironically, the other day civil judges of Lahore took our a rally in support of one of their colleagues who was abused and violently humiliated while he was hearing a case in Faisalabad by a lawyer appearing on behalf of the defendant. Earlier, 45 civil judges of the Faisalabad district had tendered their resignations to protest this unfortunate incident, but withdrew them when the Lahore High Court (LHC) took suo motu notice of the case. There are reports of judges’ applying for leave, protests, resignations and pen-down strikes in other districts of Punjab as well. Although the LHC bench hearing the case has issued non-bailable arrest warrants of the accused lawyer and directed the relevant police station to produce him before the court on March 30, the issue needs analysis.
This is not the first incident of lawyers taking the law into their own hands. Black sheep among the lawyers have indulged in arrogant, threatening and, sometimes, criminal behaviour in the past. Surprisingly, such incidents have shot up dramatically since the success of the movement for restoration of the judiciary. There have been reports of lawyers beating opponents, media persons, the police, and now a judge. How can the judges be expected to perform their functions if they fear harassment and intimidation? In fact, it strikes at the very root of the respect and dignity of the courts that the lawyers’ community had been fighting for. There are shining examples within this profession who are worth following, but there are a few who consider it their right to stand against anything opposing their inclination or interest. It is regrettable that the lawyers’ bodies at the district, provincial and national levels tend to protect rather than blacklist such errant individuals who are a stigma for this profession. A failure to purge their ranks will fritter away the respect gained by the lawyers through a selfless struggle for a noble cause.
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\03\29\story_29-3-2010_pg3_1