KARACHI, Aug 5 The judiciary owes its restoration to the lawyers' struggle, Sindh High Court Chief Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany told the SHC Bar Association members on Wednesday.

The CJ visited the bar room along with Justices Mushir Alam, Khilji Arif Hussain, Amir Hani Muslim, Maqbool Baqar, Mohammad Athar Saeed and Sajjad Ali Shah during the tea-break and was greeted warmly by the SHCBA members and office-bearers.

Retired Justice Rasheed A. Razvi, SHCBA President, said it was the unprecedented solidarity between the members of the Bar and the Bench that facilitated the restoration of an independent judiciary. SHCBA Secretary Munir-ur-Rehman expressed the confidence that the co-operation would continue in the interest of the judicial system. Karachi Bar Association President Mohammad Ali Abbasi was also present.

The CJ said the challenge before the legal fraternity now was to ensure prompt and inexCHIEF Justice Sarmad Jalal Osmany of the Sindh High Court speaks to lawyers on Wednesday.—White Star pensive justice.

The common man should have unhindered access to justice, for the restoration and independence of the judiciary are a means to an end.

The ultimate goal is dispensation of justice without fear or favour and “we should prepare to discharge the onerous task before us rather than remain stuck in the past,” he added.

Answering reporters' questions later, Justice Osmany said the judges who took the oath under the provisional constitution order would continue to hold office till their fate was decided by the Supreme Judicial Council. They have only become non-functional under the Supreme Court judgment of July 31.

The appointment of new judges, he said, was too 'sensitive' an issue to be discussed in public. He described SHC Registrar Shafiq-ur-Rehman Paracha as a “good man” and said his appointment was made by his predecessor in consultation with his senior colleagues.