QUETTA, Sept 8: The chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Tahir Mohammad Khan, has condemned what he called present unconstitutional and undemocratic attitude in the country and said that it is causing deterioration in every section of society including judiciary.

He was speaking to lawyers at a protest meeting organized by the Balochistan High Court Bar Association in response to a call of the joint action committee of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) for a country-wide protest.

The strike call was given by the PBC to protest against recent appointments of junior judges of the Lahore High Court to the Supreme Court. The PBC says the appointments are a clear violation of the rule of merit.

Mr Khan said the people could only get red of this situation if they abandoned status culture and by launching a struggle for the supremacy of law and constitution in the country.

He said it was the responsibility of all sections of society and political parties to jointly struggle for restoring supremacy of law and constitution in the country.

Former Senator of JWP M. Zafar, while speaking on the occasion, deplored the deterioration of traditional ethics in judiciary and underlined the need for an effective struggle to make judiciary an independent and impartial institution and restoration of its image among the people.

A Member of the Law Commission and senior lawyer Mohammad Aslam Chishti also spoke at the meeting and presented various proposals. The President of the Balochistan High Court Bar Association, Senator Amanullah Kanrani, criticized recent appointments in the Supreme Court of Pakistan and described them as anti-judiciary.

He alleged that these appointments had been made on personal likes and dislikes and political considerations. He was especially critical of the appointments of retired judges in tribunals and described the move as political dishonesty which had deprived deserving lawyers of their rights.