LAHORE: Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar on Saturday stated categorically that there would only be rule of law in the country, as judges of the Supreme Court have pledged not to allow anyone to damage democracy.

“You can hold me and my friends [judges] accountable if we do not fulfil this commitment,” the CJP announced to a large gathering of lawyers at a seminar hosted by the Lahore High Court Bar Association. The Supreme Court’s senior puisne judge Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, Lahore High Court Chief Justice-designate Muhammad Yawar Ali and senior leaders of the bar were present on the occasion.

CJP Nisar said the people of the country should be proud of having an independent judiciary, which did not bow to the influence of public opinion, but rather delivered judgements in accordance with the law.

Responding to a point about how politicians had repeatedly criticised the judiciary, the chief justice said that the Supreme Court rarely punished people on contempt charges.

When a lawyer raised the issue of a contempt case against Senator Nehal Hashmi and demanded action against him for delivering a ‘contemptuous’ speech to party workers, the CJP explained that a bench, headed by Justice Khosa, had been constituted to decide the matter. The chief justice iterated that they would not lose their temper and would exercise restraint and tolerance against negative criticism.

He said the country had, unfortunately, faced serious problems, and stressed the need to tackle them head on rather than holding a pessimistic view. The judiciary has been playing its role to protect the fundamental rights of citizens in accordance with law, he reiterated.

An honest leadership could change the fate of a nation, said the chief justice, adding that most developed countries had three aspects in common – education, an honest leadership, and a strong justice system.

The chief justice was all praise for the judges in his team — Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice Ijaz Afzal Khan, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Gulzar Ahmad. They were on the five-member bench that had disqualified former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the Panama Papers case. The CJP added that the Supreme Court was incomplete without Justice Khosa.

He then appealed to lawyers to volunteer for him for a year and serve the nation. He added that if he failed to deliver justice, he would be answerable to them. He termed the bar and the bench as indispensable to each other’s integrity. Crippling either of the two would cripple the whole institution, he said, adding that it was the duty of the judiciary to eliminate conflict and dispense justice as a duty.

He reiterated that no judge had the power to decide cases on personal whim and regretted that pensioners had to fight for their right to pension from the very institutions they had served their entire lives.

Addressing the judges, CJP Nisar said they were not on paid vacation in the judiciary but to serve the nation with duty and responsibility.

He also urged bar leaders not to take minimum briefs during their tenure and to dedicate their time for the betterment of the legal fraternity and the judicial system.

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2018