10 January 2005	Monday	28 Ziqa'ad 1425

WASHINGTON, Jan 9: A prominent international human rights advocacy group has urged the United States to use its influence on Pakistan to press for the independence of the judiciary.

In a report, titled "Building Judicial Independence in Pakistan," the Brussels-based International Crisis Group urges the Bush administration to "treat the independence of the judiciary as a measure of democratic development in Pakistan."

The report and the recommendations, also sent to the European Union and other members of the international community, urge Washington to take particular interest in ending "the manipulation of appointments, promotions, and removals in the superior judiciary."

The Crisis Group, which has over 100 field researchers in five continents, is co-chaired by President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations Leslie Gelb and the former European Commissioner for External Relations Chris Patten; and its President and Chief Executive since January 2000 has been former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans.

With advocacy offices in Washington, New York, London and Moscow and field offices in 19 countries, including Pakistan, the group exerts a strong influence on policy-making in key countries.

In its report on the judiciary in Pakistan, the Crisis Group also urges the Asian Development Bank and other donor agencies to "insist on reform of the appointments and promotions systems for the superior judiciary (in Pakistan) and on a strict adherence to the seniority rule for promotions."

This, the group says, should be adopted by the donor agencies "as a policy condition for further tranches of the structural adjustment loan under the Access to Justice Programme."

The report advises donor agencies to persuade Pakistan to introduce measures "to identify and remove from the superior and subordinate courts those judges engaged in financial corruption."

The government of Pakistan should also be encouraged to promote meaningful in-service judicial training on gender sensitization and the treatment in court of religious minorities, in particular Ahmadis and Christians, the report says.

The donor agencies are also asked to "press the government of Pakistan to implement reserved seats for women in key subordinate and superior judiciary positions." In a separate set of recommendations for the government of Pakistan, the Crisis Group asks Islamabad to:

Establish, by proposing and urging adoption of a constitutional amendment, a transparent system of judicial appointments to the high courts. The accountability for such appointments should be expanded beyond the executive and chief justices to include parliamentarians and bar councils and associations.

Prior to the adoption of such an amendment, involve the bar and parliamentarians in public discussions of candidates for posts on the high courts. End deviations from the seniority rule in the promotion of high court judges to the posts of Chief Justice.

Establish by statute a seniority rule for promotions from the high courts to the supreme court. Promote qualified female judges, who qualify under the seniority rule, when filling vacancies on the high courts and supreme court.

End the practices of not confirming additional judges and of awarding government positions to retired judges. Establish public audits of all members of the superior judiciary and close family members to ensure that only statutory benefits are awarded and corruption is avoided.

End the practice of selectively offering new oaths to judges, and renounce publicly the use of the judicial oath as a mechanism for purging the judiciary. Institute new internal administrative mechanisms for the prevention of corruption and the removal of corrupt high court judges, with oversight from a judicial commission that includes members of the bars and parliamentarians.

Ensure that women and minorities are adequately represented in these mechanisms. Institute administrative reforms that curtail Chief Justices' power over the assignment of cases and of judges and establish professional, managerial divisions within the courts to fulfill this task.

Absorb the anti-terrorism and accountability courts into the ordinary judiciary, jettisoning procedural variations in bail, plea-bargaining, and the physical circumstances of trials that presently characterize those proceedings. Institute courts within Pakistan's ordinary judicial hierarchy, with review in the PHC and the SC, for the FATA."