KARACHI: The legal fraternity of the country on Saturday resolved to resist any move against the 18th Amendment and said that the plot against the constitutional provisions was aimed at paving the way for martial law.

They also said that the cult of personality within state institutions should be discouraged and the focus should be exclusively on the prestige and dignity of the institutions.

Lawyers from across the country gathered in Karachi and held two separate events — the Sindh Bar Council (SBC) held a meeting of the All Pakistan Inter-provincial Bar Council Coordination Committee and the Karachi Bar Association organised an All Pakistan Bar Representatives’ Conference.

The coordination committee meeting was chaired by its chairman Advocate Abdur Razzaq Mehar and attended by SBC vice chairman Salahuddin Gandapur, Punjab Bar Council vice chairman Jam Younus, Balochistan Bar Council Executive Committee chairman Rahib Khan Buledi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council member Ahmed Farooq Khatak and Islamabad Bar Council member Javed Salim Sorish.

It passed several resolutions demanding that the government devolve the administrative control of natural resources such as gas, oil, water and other minerals to the respective provincial governments in the spirit of the 18th Amendment.

Legal fraternity expresses concerns over ongoing accountability process

The meeting urged that all institutions should work within their jurisdictions so that the democratic culture and institutions would prosper.

The leaders of the legal fraternity demanded that the bar councils of the country should be taken into confidence in the appointments of judges in high courts.

They also expressed their concern over the ongoing process of accountability and demanded that it should be conducted across the board.

They also demanded the accountability of judges and generals “so that the dream of corruption-free Pakistan could come true”.

The meeting also stressed need for electoral reforms and demanded that provincial bar councils should be taken on board to oversee the transparency and fairness of the elections.

It also demanded to immediately activate the Supreme Judicial Council and take action on the references pending disposal.

KBA conference

A resolution adopted at the bar representatives’ conference welcomed the clarification with regard to a statement attributed to the army chief regarding the 18th Amendment and said that the legal fraternity expected that the armed forces and judiciary would respect the democratic will and consensus of the people of the federation.

The resolution, prepared by KBA president Haider Imam Rizvi, also lauded the judiciary’s role for enforcement of fundamental rights, but maintained that while initiating and hearing such cases, the judges should maintain the utmost neutrality and be guarded in any comments or behaviour that may lead to a perception regarding not being even-handed or impartial.

While praising the dismissal of a petition challenging the appointment of Justice Qazi Faez Isa, it claimed that the petition was motivated by non-democratic forces to pressurise and intimidate an independent judge.

It said the legal fraternity was extremely disappointed about the role of Barrister Ali Zafar who reportedly turned up before the apex court on behalf of the Lahore High Court Bar Association and Supreme Court Bar Association to defend the petition against Justice Isa.

In an indirect reference to the recently retired Supreme Court Justice Dost Mohammad Khan, the resolution stated that retiring SC judges were equally entitled to exercise freedom of speech and there should be no departure from the tradition of holding references for them.

“We believe that all the political forces should themselves make efforts to ensure that all future elections are free from any taint or influence from non-democratic forces and we believe that the judiciary should play its due constitutional role in this regard,” it concluded.

Former Supreme Court Bar Association presidents Munir A. Malik, Rasheed A. Razvi, Hamid Khan, Ali Ahmed Kurd and representatives of Pakistan Bar Council, Balochistan Bar Council and many bar associations also spoke.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2018