LAHORE: For 25 vacant positions of judges in the Lahore High Court (LHC), members of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) have recommended the names of six kin of former judges and five women lawyers among others, but none from the minority communities.

Interestingly, Chief Justice Aalia Nee­lum, who is the first woman top judge of the LHC, recommended 21 advocates, including one woman, for elevation but none from the district judiciary of Punjab.

Senior puisne judge of the Supreme Court Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, who served as LHC CJ before being elevated to the apex court, recommended three district & sessions judges (D&SJs) for elevation to the high court.

CJ Neelum nominated Advocate General Khalid Ishaq, Additional Attor­ney General Hassan Nawaz Makhdoom, who is also a partner in the firm of Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, Malik Awais Khalid, son-in-law of former senator Dr Khalid Ranjha, Chaudhry Sultan Meh­m­ood, a chamber fellow of Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry, Haroon Dugal, former secretary of the Lahore High Court Bar Association, Mohammad Siddique Awan, Chaudhry Iqbal Ahmad Khan, Asif Saeed Rana, Ajmal Zahid, Abdul Basit Khan Baloch, Ameer Ajam Malik, Shireen Imran, Malik Waqar Haider Awan, Asad Mahmood Abbasi, Shahzad Mehmood Butt, Syed Ahsan Raza Kazmi, Khalid Ibn-i-Aziz, Jawad Zafar, Haris Azmat, Amjad Pervez and Shaharyar Tariq.

JCP members make recommendations to fill 25 vacancies in LHC

Advocate Pervez is known for pleading cases of high-profile politicians against National Accountability Bureau and Fed­eral Investigation Agency, in particular.

Justice Shah’s choice

Justice Shah nominated three district and sessions judges Qaiser Nazir Butt, Mohammad Akmal Khan and Jazeela As­­l­am who also served as the first woman registrar of the SC under ex-CJP Qazi Faez Isa.

His list includes Munawarus Salam, son of ex-CJ Abdul Shakurul Salam and a partner at Cornelius, Lane & Mufti (CLM), Barrister Qasim Ali Chowhan, son of late justice Ali Nawaz Chowhan, Syed Shahab Qutab, son of former district & sessions judge Ijaz Qutab.

Justice Shah nominated Asma Hamid, daughter of ex-governor Shahid Hamid, Rafay Zeeshan Javed Altaf and Haider Rasul Mirza, son of former advocate general Navid Rasul Mirza, who is a maternal uncle of ex-CJP Umar Ata Bandial.

He also proposed AGP Khalid Ishaq and additional advocate general Samia Khalid Mehmood, a former associate of ex-AG Ashtar Ausaf Ali’s law firm.

Nominees of PTI, PPP

As JCP member, PTI senator Barrister Syed Ali Zafar proposed names of ex-CJP Tassaduq Hussain Jillani’s son Saqib Jil­l­a­­­ni, and Lahore High Court Bar Association secretary and former justice Nasim Sikandar’s son Barrister Qadir Bukhsh, and a senior partner at his law firm Mandviwalla & Zafar, Huma Ejaz Zaman.

PPP senator Farooq H. Naek, as a member of the JCP, nominated eight lawyers including Haseeb Shakoor Paracha, son of former justice Abdul Shakoor Paracha who is heading the Rawalpindi and Isla­m­abad election tribunal, Malik Javaid Iqbal Wains, Mujeebur Rehman Kiani, Saqib Jillani, Aiyan Tariq Bhutta, Nawa­zish Pirzada, Shaigan Ijaz and Sabahat Rizvi.

Shaigan is a younger brother of author and human rights activist Saroop Ijaz and Ms Rizvi served as the first woman secretary of the LHCBA last year.

Law minister’s choice

LHC registrar Abher Gul Khan is among the four nominations made by Law Minister Tarar. The minister also nominated Additional Attorney General Rana Asadullah Khan, a younger brother of Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan, an advisor to the prime minister.

Mr Khan was elected secretary of the LHCBA in 2008 when lawyers’ movement for the restoration of the deposed judiciary was in full swing. His other nominees are Nawazish Ali Pirzada and Raja Jahanzeb Akhtar.

Senior lawyers, contacted by Dawn, questioned the absence of the representation of the minority communities in the nominations made by the JCP members. They said it was unfortunate that the JCP found not a single lawyer to represent the minority communities for the elevation to the bench. They also expressed concern over a significantly low proportion of women lawyers among the total of nominations of 44.

The LHC has been working with a deficit of 25 judges against the sanctioned strength of 60. A last batch of judges in the LHC was appointed in 2021.

Sources claim that the JCP may approve 10 to 15 additional judges in its meeting scheduled for Dec 21.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2024