July 02, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 27, 1429

MUZAFFARABAD, July 1: A cold war between senior members of the superior judiciary in Azad Kashmir was thrust into the limelight after a handout by the Supreme Court blamed a senior judge for using abusive language against a court official and thus triggering a pen-down strike by the entire non-judicial staff.

The handout issued by the apex court’s superintendent alleged that Justice Syed Manzoor Hussain Gillani had hurled abuses on registrar Fazil Hashmi on telephone on Saturday.

“Although he (Justice Gillani) was reminded (by the registrar) that such a language did not suit him the torrent of abuses did not stop until he hung up”, the handout said.

When the court staff learnt about the incident on Monday, they stopped official work in protest, met Chief Justice Reaz Akhtar Chaudhry in his chamber and made a written submission that in such circumstances they could not carry out their duties, the handout said.

“The excess meted out to the registrar, who is administrative head of the court and a BPS-22 officer, amounts to committing excess with the entire staff and there is no guarantee that other officers and staff will not meet similar treatment in future.”

According to the handout, the protesting staffers, who had warned that unless justice was dispensed to the registrar they would not be able to resume duties, got back to work at 12 noon after the CJ held out an assurance to them to this effect.

However, when contacted by Dawn, Justice Gillani denied outright having shouted abuses on the registrar, and instead alleged that he (registrar) was being used by the Chief Justice Reaz Akhtar Chaudhry against him.

“My conduct is very clear...I have been the chief justice of High Court, (acting) chief election commissioner, (AJK University) vice-chancellor and never anyone has heard any such thing from me.

“It’s unfortunate that a registrar has levelled such an allegation against a senior serving judge,” he said.

Justice Gillani and Justice Chaudhry are at loggerheads since September 2006 when the latter was appointed as CJ of Supreme Court while ignoring the former who was senior to him.

Justice Chaudhry, however, maintains that the rule of seniority is not in vogue in the AJK’s judiciary.

When told about the strike, Justice Gillani, who was in Islamabad, alleged that the staff would have been instigated by the CJ into it without letting them know the other side of the story.

According to Justice Gillani, on Saturday he summoned his former private in High Court and when he returned, a SC official rang him and asked in an insulting manner that he should not visit the apex court without permission.

“As he informed me about his insult, I asked the registrar that this should not have happened. The registrar maintained that it was done because we do not know as to who comes in and goes out of the apex court premises. I remarked that you have made a mockery of the system,” Mr Gillani said.

He stressed that he had raised objection in a civilised manner but regrettably it had been given a “wrong colour”.

However, when contacted by Dawn, Mr Hashmi insisted that Justice Gillani had used “foul language” towards him.

“I don’t know whether he was under depression or had fallen into rage but he did use abusive language unremittingly,” he said.

“I will retire in December after 33 years of unblemished service. I cannot be used by anyone,” he added. When asked if they had called the HC official, he maintained that it was a safety measure because in Mirpur an armed man had entered into a courtroom.

However, before he could take up further questions, the registrar said he had been summoned by the CJ. Interestingly, the apex court handout appeared to have been prepared haphazardly because apart from carrying many linguistic mistakes it was typed on a letterhead which carried telephone numbers of Justice Gillani and also mentioned the day as Tuesday instead of Monday.