ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani said on Friday that the country faced a multitude of challenges, including terrorism, sectarian violence, ethnic cleansing of minorities and weakened rights for women and children, but stressed that while confronting the challenges “we should not justify undermining the national security”.

“It is our duty, as a pillar of this state, to hold fast in believing the seminal values of the rule of law, human dignity, tolerance and compassion,” the chief justice said while addressing a full court reference held at the Supreme Court in honour of Justice Khilji Arif Hussain on his reaching superannuation.

The chief justice called for using alternative dispute resolution which he said was a well-tested mechanism to offload some cases from courts’ docket because the available infrastructure of courts was not adequate to settle the growing litigation due to increase in population, awareness about the rights and denial of rights by the executive.

He also stressed the need for striking a balance between conflicting values and principles, including the value of security of the state and individual rights, while fighting terrorism and protecting democracy. “Such rights cannot justify undermining the national security.”

The chief justice regretted that there was an element of nihilism in violence and said: “A constitution is not a prescription for suicide and civil rights are not altar for national destruction. Fundamental rights exist only in a state where the rule of law under the constitution reigns supreme.”

In its endeavour to strike a balance between conflicting values, the chief justice said, judiciary often attracted criticism from both sides. Those standing for human rights may contend that the court gives too much protection to security and ignores human rights; those who speak of security concerns may allege that the court is tilted towards human rights rather than security.

“These comments should not deter us from upholding the rule of law and the canons of democracy,” he urged.

The makers of constitution want to implement social, economic and political justice for which vision has been embedded in the green book through fundamental rights and the principles of policy. To ensure that these goals are pursued by each organ of the state; that no organ acts beyond the role assigned to it under the constitution and the law, as also to protect the people from arbitrary rule, the judiciary has been entrusted with the sacred task of acting as arbiter between the state and an individual and among individuals and to issue appropriate directions where the rights or laws are being violated.

The chief justice said the enforcement of rule of law was an unending struggle and constant vigilance, as goes an old saying, is the price of liberty. “We must never relax in our constitutional resolve to protect the rule of law.”

Earlier, Pakistan Bar Council Vice-Chairman Chaudhry Mohammad Ramzan regretted that for the first time in the country’s judicial history 14 judges of the Supreme Court had sacked over 100 judges through the July 31, 2009 verdict without hearing them while disregarding Article 209 of the Constitution. This led to a divide between the bench and the bar.

He asked the judiciary to seriously consider revisiting all judgments, including that of July 31, to bring the country’s legal order in consonance with the Constitution while upholding the law.

He also highlighted reservations among the legal fraternity over the procedure of appointment which some time lacked the consultative process of all stakeholders and thus the important aspect of transparency and merit orientation was at times undermined.

Mr Ramzan expressed the hope that immediate attention would be given to eradicate corruption from the lower judiciary.

Supreme Court Bar Association President Kamran Murtaza pointed out lack of parameters of exercising suo motu jurisdiction by the apex court and the absence of judges from Balochistan in the Supreme Court, Federal Shariat Court and even statutory tribunals. He regretted the executive’s intention to protect their interest by inducting bureaucrats in the establishment of the Supreme Court.