Iftikhar Chaudhry is supreme!
Source: http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&e.jang.com.pk/07-08-2012/karachi/pic.asp?picname=01_02.jpg
This picture in daily Jang (8 July 2012) caught my attention. What an audience! Only a publicity hungry guy could get such an audience snapped. No wonder Pakistan’s increasingly self-obsessed top judge Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry is commonly known as Iftikhar Mental (#IftikharMental) in view of his mentally deranged behaviour.
In certain ways, CJ Chaudhry’s self-obsession, affection to (mostly Punjabi) Islamists (Nawaz Sharif, Imran Khan, Hafiz Saeed, Malik Ishaq) and hatred of progressive political class resemble that of another (equally vile) top bureaucrat in Pakistan’s history, Ghulam Muhammad, whose role in undermining democracy and conspiring with military generals is well documented.
On a related note, the above picture is taken from CJ Chaudhry’s address at a roll signing ceremony of a few newly enrolled advocates for the Supreme Court in Karachi. In the same address, he deemed it fit to make a strange declaration that a country’s constitution, not its elected parliament, was supreme, and that the Supreme Court (read Iftikhar Chaudhry) had the power to kill any illegal law and unconstitutional amendment approved by the parliament.
KARACHI: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said the constitution, not parliament, was the supreme entity in Pakistan and that Article 8 of the constitution empowered the Supreme Court to strike down any legislation. The chief justice said this while speaking at a roll signing ceremony of 16 newly enrolled advocates for the Supreme Court on Saturday at the Karachi Registry of the Supreme Court.
He advised the advocates to come well-prepared for their cases as they were to protect the rights of their clients [e.g., showering of rose petals on Mumtaz Qadri, Hafiz Saeed etc, banning Shezan and other products made by Ahmadis, and imposing restrictions on entry of lawyers remotely critical of Chief Justice] also and at the same time, as officers of the court, they were to render assistance to the court as well and the decisions based on their arguments were to become precedents for the future.
The chief justice referred to a “misconception in the minds of people regarding supremacy of parliament”. It was the constitution which expressed and embodied the will of the people, he said, adding that the constitution empowered the apex court to strike down any legislation which encroached upon the basic rights of the citizens.
He further said that the Supreme Court was fully empowered to strike down any law which was in conflict with the constitution. He stated that even in the United Kingdom, the doctrine of supremacy of parliament was now seen to be out of place and emphasised that it was time, after 65 years of independence, that “we free ourselves from the shackles of obsequious intellectual servility to colonial paradigms and start adhering to our constitution”. Source: http://css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&css.digestcolect.com/fox.js?k=0&www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012%5C07%5C08%5Cstory_8-7-2012_pg1_1
Previously Iftikhar Chaudhry had declared that the Supreme Court represents the will of the people of Pakistan and that only the SC has the powers to interpret the constitution. He also stated that SC had the power to kill any amendment in national constitution which is against constitution, and that SC could kill any illegal legislation.
In other words, only Iftikahr Chaudhry and other members of his gang of pro-Taliban judges are supreme in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. What else could we expect from a mentally deranged person?
Karachi: 7 July 2012 – The CJP said the conviction of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani proved that every individual, irrespective of his position, was subject to the law, adding that action against the chief executive had been taken because he had not implemented the court’s orders. Justice Chaudhry, citing Article 190 of the Constitution, said all executive and judicial authorities were bound to act in aid of the Supreme Court.
http://dawn.com/2012/07/08/cjs-observation-sc-can-void-any-law-in-conflict-with-constitution/
ISLAMABAD: 24 June 2012 – Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Saturday said parliament could not legislate any law repugnant to the Constitution, the injunctions of Islam and contrary to fundamental laws, and that if such a law was promulgated, the Supreme Court could review it under its power of judicial review.
Addressing a 50-member delegation of the Youth Parliament, he said parliament was required to make laws in accordance with the Constitution for the welfare of the public so that laws could be made applicable.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-15565-Parliament-cant-legislate-against-Constitution-CJ-Iftikhar
He is an idiot of the highest order. I wish some day our business community rise up against him that enough is enough. yeh dum daba kay bhagay ga
Comment deleted for abusive language
CHIEF Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on Saturday fired the latest salvo in the perceived escalating fight between the superior judiciary and the PPP-led federal government. The Supreme Court, according to Justice Chaudhry, can strike down any legislation that is incompatible with the fundamental rights guaranteed under the constitution. While this is a well-established principle, the timing of Justice Chaudhry’s comments is impossible to ignore: the chief justice’s dilation on the ins and outs of the constitution came in a week that the government proposed legislation to protect its constitutional office-holders from suffering the same fate as former premier Yousuf Raza Gilani suffered recently. Unfortunate as it is that the past judicial practice of justices speaking only from the bench and through their judgments has been discarded in recent years, the comments by the chief justice come very close to pre-empting the legislative process. Astonishingly, however, the chief justice did not just stop there: he indicated that the supremacy of parliament was ‘out of place in the modern era’, the constitution itself enjoying pre-eminence over the will of parliament. This is explosive, particularly given the backdrop of the judiciary-government battles. Start with the claim that the constitution, not parliament, is supreme, add the corollary that the SC is the final and unquestioned interpreter of what the constitution does or does not permit — and suddenly Pakistan is in the realm of a supreme judiciary, an unelected institution dictating the contract by which state and society interact. This would be a fundamental shift in the way Pakistan’s constitutional arrangement is imagined and it is quite extraordinary that a serving chief justice would see fit to make such a pronouncement outside a judicial forum. In the SC, the chief justice is the administrative head but his vote is equal to that wielded by any other justice in any given case. Surely, then, at the very least, this is a matter to be decided before a full court, if and when the matter comes before the court.
But returning to the issue of fundamental rights guaranteed in the constitution, why is it that the court keeps invoking fundamental rights when it comes to engaging with the government instead of concentrating on securing the fundamental rights of the people? Why not focus on the broken judicial system in which the average complainant has virtually no hope of ever getting justice, and none of getting it on time? Why not focus on the abysmally low rate of successful prosecution that allows criminals to walk free? Must the court be so obviously selective?
http://dawn.com/2012/07/09/cjs-remarks-3/
The Dawn editorial is hard hitting and most appropriate
Constituent Assembly has got two main functions to perform. The first is the very onerous and responsible task of framing the future constitution of Pakistan and the second of functioning as a full and complete SOVEREIGN BODY as the Federal Legislature of Pakistan.(Jinnah Aug 11, 47)
Since Justice Muneer to till date , judges are working under the umbrella of USA. Restatement of Iftikhar Ch. was political. He is a political judge & has destroyed all administrative functions of the government. He is operating as a chief of PML-N & PTI. He is rewriting constitution & disregarded the resolution of parliament which are binding as people will is supreme