PESHAWAR/BAJAUR: The lawyers on Wednesday observed province-wide strike against the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) for violating the principle of seniority for fresh elevation of judges to the Supreme Court.

The strike call was given by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council, which has also voiced concern over ignoring of senior judges of Peshawar High Court by JCP for elevation to the apex court in its October 24 meeting.

The lawyers mostly stayed away from proceedings before different courts including Peshawar High Court and district courts throughout the province.

KPBC vice-chairman Mohammad Ali Khan Jadoon and executive committee chairman Mohammad Ilyas Khan have also requested the relevant parliamentary committee to turn down the recent recommendations by JCP from the provinces of Sindh and Punjab for what they called being against the settled principle of seniority.

In a statement issued here, they said that over the past many years, the principle of seniority was persistently violated by JCP while making appointment of the judges in Supreme Court. “Mostly the judges from smaller provinces particularly the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have been made the victims of injustice,” they said.

They also demanded of the federal government to immediately promulgate proper legislation for granting equal representation to all federating units in the Supreme Court.

They said that after the passage of Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, there were many cases, which were or would be initiated in Supreme Court between the centre and the federating unit or among two or more federating units and unless all federating units had equal number of judges in the apex court full compliance to the constitution was very seriously doubted.

The statement said that the federation and its Constitution could only be adhered to in letter and spirit by safeguarding the interests of all federating units by an independent Supreme Court with equal representation from all the federating units.

In Bajaur, lawyers boycotted court proceedings in protest against the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) for allegedly violating the principle of seniority in the recent elevation of judges to Supreme Court.

According to a statement issued by Bajaur Bar Association, the strike was observed on the call of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council to protest against the Judicial Commission for not recommending the chief justice of Peshawar High Court for the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

“The strike, which was observed successfully across the province, has showed that lawyers have rejected the discriminatory behaviour of CJP with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the recent elevation of judges to the Supreme Court,” said the statement.

It said that representatives of Bajaur Bar Association and all local lawyers were not ready to tolerate such decisions and would stand by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council to force JCP to revise its decision.

The strike caused great inconvenience to litigants at Bajaur Judicial Complex.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2022