GILGIT: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmed has said that the Supreme Court’s verdict regarding settlement of the constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan would be implemented in letter and spirit.

The CJP expressed these views while talking to a delegation of GB Bar Council led by its vice-chairman Javed Iqbal, which called on the top judge in Islamabad, according to a press release issued here on Wednesday.

The delegation informed Justice Gulzar of the concerns of the GB people because of delay in implementation of the court verdict. The CJP assured the delegation of protecting the rights of GB people.

It is to mention here that a seven-judge larger bench headed by then Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mian Saqib Nisar, had on Jan 17, 2019, issued the verdict on the constitutional rights of the GB citizens.

The GB Bar Council members informed the CJP about the vacant posts of judges in the GB Supreme Appellate Court for last two years.

The apex court in its January 2019 verdict had also directed appointment of judges to the GB Supreme Appellate Court through the judicial commission

However, the lawyers informed the CJP that the judicial commission had not yet been formed, because of which the litigants were suffering.

Similarly, the GB lawyers said that a Supreme Court verdict of 1999 regarding provision of rights to the people of GB was not implemented.

They informed the CJP that bureaucracy and political parties were creating hurdles to implementing the apex court verdicts in the region.

CJP Gulzar Ahmed was part of the seven-member Supreme Court larger bench which had given verdict on the GB rights case, last year.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2020