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| July 25, 2007 | Wednesday | Rajab 09, 1428 |
KARACHI: Courts resume normal functioning: Timings extended by an hour
KARACHI, July 24: For the first time in the four and a half months since Pakistan’s lawyers began their movement for judicial independence, the city courts functioned for a full day on Tuesday. To meet the back-log, court proceedings have been extended by one hour for an indefinite period of time.
The number of lawyers and litigants was high as compared to the past few months. DSP Mohammed Pervez, who is in charge of the court police, said that 661 under-trial prisoners (UTPs) were moved from the prisons on Tuesday, though the numbers had been very low in earlier months. He added that these figures would increase daily given the extension of court timings.
At the invitation of the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) managing committee, all the district and sessions judges of the City Courts -- Nisar Ahmed Shaikh (Central), Arshad Noor Khan (West), Agha Rafiq Ahmed Khan (East) and Zaheeruddin S. Leghari (South) -- held a meeting with the KBA leadership at the Committee Room.
The judges congratulated the legal fraternity and appreciated their efforts towards upholding the rule of law and judicial independence. Meanwhile, KBA general secretary Naeem Qureshi, KBA joint secretary Aamir Niaz Khan and members of the KBA managing committee appreciated the judges’ cooperation during the movement. Issues related to court proceedings, litigants and lawyers were also discussed and the need for professional relations between the bar and bench to facilitate the quick disposal of cases was emphasised.
According to KBA general secretary, Mr Qureshi, the Sindh High Court has formed a Bar-Bench Coordination Committee of which he and KBA president Iftikhar Javaid Qazi are members.
The movement for judicial independence was launched on March 10, a day after a reference was filed against the chief justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Chaudhry, by President Pervez Musharraf. On July 20, the chief justice was reinstated by a bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Lawyers observed Monday as a day of giving thanks for the triumph of the law.
During the past four months, the city’s lawyers dedicatedly participated in the campaign spearheaded by the Pakistan Bar Council. Lawyers of the Sindh High Court, the City Courts and the Malir District Courts observed regular hunger strikes and boycotted court proceedings for an hour every day except Thursday, when a full-day boycott was observed. It was an unprecedented movement during which general body meetings were held on a daily basis and lawyers staged demonstrations and took out protest marches, even when cases of sedition were registered against some of them.
Such activities constituted great sacrifices on the lawyers’ part but meanwhile, considerable hardship was faced by the general public, particularly litigants and under-trial prisoners. Referring to this, the KBA general secretary said that at the KBA’s request, the Sindh High Court has extended court timings by one hour to recover the time lost and expedite the disposal of cases.
“I am extremely sorry for the loss of time and the inconvenience faced by shopkeepers, traders, transporters, litigants and all other persons affected by the movement,” he stated. “However, we have taken an important step towards an independent judiciary, which is very important for everybody.”
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