LAHORE, Nov 18: Former chief justice Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui has said that political leadership has failed and judiciary faltered in rising to the occasion to a situation arising out of the October 1999 military take-over as both proved to be equally weak in evolving a strategy to safeguard democratic institutions and protect the rights of the people from undemocratic forces.

The judiciary faltered by seeking refuge behind the discarded “doctrine of necessity” to legitimise the change brought about unconstitutionally, Justice Siddiqui said at a seminar “Justice for all - myth or reality” organised by the Pakistan Lawyers Foundation at the Karachi Hall of the Lahore High Court Bar Association here on Saturday.

He said the political leadership failed badly because they yielded to the undemocratic forces knowing that their folly might make them meaningless.

The seminar unanimously adopted a resolution calling for the supremacy of the 1973 Constitution, rule of law, establishment of a democratic dispensation and independence and freedom of the judiciary.

Justice Siddiqui said the people participated in the 2002 general election with the hope that it would revive democratic rule but their aspirations were duped as the elected parliament failed to undo the unilateral amendments made to the constitution through the Legal Framework Order (LFO) by an individual.

The ratification of the LFO by parliament has not only opened the doors for a permanent role of armed forces in the governance of the country against the basic structure of the constitution but also was likely to politicise the institution of army, which was not a healthy development, he added.

He said the rules laid down by the Supreme Court in judges’ case were violated with impunity during the last seven years. Masses were losing faith in the superior courts that they would effectively deal with the violation of constitution by the regime. Unconstitutional removal of judges of the superior courts after the military take-over of 1977 and 1999 had made the provisions in the constitution protecting the tenure of service of judges and independence of judiciary, a farce, he stated.

He lauded the struggle of lawyers and said the principled stand taken by the Pakistan Bar Council and the bar associations of Pakistan during the last seven years to protect the independence of judiciary and establishment of the rule of law in the country, had been the only silver lining during this dark era.

He called for a more transparent and merit-oriented procedure for the appointments of judges to strengthen the judicial system.

He said judges should take a fresh oath to save the existing judicial system from disintegration. They, he suggested, should review their performance and adopt measures to restore the confidence of masses in the judiciary.

Foundation president Karim Malik said the objective of the seminar was to provide an opportunity to eminent jurists and lawyers to sit together and deliberate upon and think about various aspects of the judicial system with the purpose of saving it from further decay. Delay in dispensation of justice and accountability of judges was another aspect of restoring the image of the judiciary, he continued.

Mr Malik said the scale of government intervention in lawmaking had increased tremendously. The old belief in a legal science and ethics, had faded.

Former Supreme Court Bar Association president Malik Muhammad Qayyum, Justice Nasira Javed Iqbal (retired), former LHCBA president Ahmad Awais, Lahore Bar Association’s Imran Masood Chaudhry and Malik Saeed Hasan also spoke.