ISLAMABAD, Aug 4: More than forty countries have so far confirmed participation in the four-day International Judicial Conference, being organized by the Supreme Court from August 11, 2006.

An official announcement of the Supreme Court issued here Friday said around one hundred foreign delegates were expected to participate in the moot. The delegates include the chief justices, judges, eminent legal scholars, academicians and representatives of different bar associations.

Being held on August 11 to 14, 2006, as a part of the Supreme Court Golden Jubilee Celebrations, the international judicial conference would be a great opportunity for the judiciary and legal community of Pakistan to share views and thoughts with the chief justices, judges and jurists of the world, the announcement said. Preparations for the conference were in full swing, it said.

The conference would not only convey a message of a progressive Pakistan but also prove to be a great help in promoting harmony and cooperation in different fields, especially between judiciaries of these countries and strengthen the norms of justice, improvement in administration of justice, system of democracy and combating the menaces of terrorism, human trafficking and drug trafficking.

It said the conference would in fact be an honour for Pakistan to host an international conference with the participation of delegates from countries like the US, UK, Canada, France, Russian Federation, Sweden, India, besides Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Bangladesh, Iraq, Sudan, Iran, Indonesia and many other countries.

On completion of 50 years of its establishment, Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had decided to celebrate the occasion with an aim to take stock of the performance of its past 50 years reckoning its achievements, deficiencies, failures and also to evolve a viable strategy and improved procedure for provision of speedy justice to the aggrieved.