KARACHI: The Sindh Bar Council (SBC) on Monday expressed reservations over the alleged humiliation of a judge in Larkana during a visit by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar and its treatment by the media.

Speaking at a press conference, the council’s vice chairman Salahuddin Gandapur said that since the SBC held the judiciary in high esteem, it had reservations over the humiliation of Additional District and Sessions Judge Larkana Gul Zameer Solangi during the ongoing proceedings and publicity of the incident on mainstream and social media.

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Referring to the incident which happened during an inspection visit to the Larkana district courts where Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar was angry with Mr Solangi and flung his mobile phone to the desk, Mr Gandapur said that it was an unfortunate incident which not only created fear in the subordinate judiciary of the province but also disturbed the judicial process.

Mr Gandapur added that the legal procedure was available to act against any judge of the subordinate judiciary and the same must be exercised in order to maintain the dignity of the judiciary in society.

He urged the superior judiciary to give priority to the cases pending before it instead of “intervening in political issues”.

Mr Gandapur complained that judges were being appointed in the high court and district judiciary without “meaningful” consultations with the SBC.

He also expressed displeasure over the non-recovery of missing persons from the province and demanded that a fair trial be provided to Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad High Court by conducting the proceedings of a reference against him in open court.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2018