LAHORE, Feb 12: Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has said democracy is not just the name of periodical elections, it is a multidimensional concept involving tolerance, equality and due course of law. Speaking at a seminar entitled “Dispensation of Justice and Challenges Ahead” organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association here on Saturday, Justice Chaudhry said all organs of the state were responsible for dispensing justice through their specified spheres of functioning and judiciary was empowered to act as a referee if there was any interjection from any organ.

Welcome address at the seminar was delivered by SCBA president and host Asma Jahangir. Federal law minister Babar Awan and Punjab senior minister Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khosa were among the speakers. SC Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and Justice Nasirul Mulk, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Justice Chaudhry Iftikhar Hussain, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik and Justice Sheikh Najamul Hassan were also present.

Justice Chaudhry highlighted the need for justice in a society and responsibility of institutions in this regard. He said administration of justice generated a feeling of satisfaction among people and thereby promoted social peace. He said peace was not the absence of war, but presence of justice. “If the lamp of justice is broken, there will be darkness,” he said and added that injustice anywhere was a threat to justice everywhere.

The chief justice said globalisation and the urge of nations to make rapid advances in scientific/technological fields threw multiple challenges, which required appropriate response. It was incumbent upon the nation and the state to prepare itself for these challenges. He said the state was manifested through the functioning of its organs - legislature, executive and judiciary. He said the judicial organ was required to perform a difficult task of judging the functioning or performance of state organs. However, the court was also obligated to determine the limits to its own jurisdiction.

Justice Chaudhry said like other third world countries, in Pakistan the court needed to interpret the Constitution and the law in a manner that the stability of democratic system, political dispensation, economic development, peace and security was upheld and strengthened. He said the constitution was a living document and it should be perceived as evolving over the time as a matter of social necessity. He said the constitutional framers provided the constitution in broad and flexible terms to create such a dynamic instrument and it was up to the court now to take the pragmatic view while interpreting the constitution according to the changing needs of the society.

Highlighting the role of bar in dispensation of justice, the CJ said lawyers had been, and always shall be, the strategic partner in the system of dispensation of justice. He said the lawyers’ movement with the assistance of civil society and the media played a pivotal role and brought the lawyers of this country in different standing. The bench and the bar had to respond to new challenges, as it was high time to respond to the aspirations of people of Pakistan.

He reiterated that it was not the duty of courts alone to provide justice to people, it was also the duty of every organ and functionary of the state to do justice with his duties in accordance with law without an fear or favour. He advised lawyers to adhere to their professional code of conduct and the bar councils to enforce the code of conduct and professional ethics. He asked them to clear the dockets of pending complaints against lawyers and pointed out to 192 complaints and 27 appeals pending against lawyers of SC before disciplinary committees.

The CJ said the state under article 38(e) of the Constitution was responsible to decrease disparity in the income and earnings of the individuals therefore the SC was striving hard to bridge this gap, ward off the evil of corruption and sustain good governance through accountability and transparency.

SCBA president Asma Jahangir said the primary reason for organisation of the seminar was that “we have come a long way in achieving independence of judiciary and the bar, but we have still some considerable distance to cover our major goals”. She said lawyers raised the hopes of people during their movement and the masses now expected lawyers to play a leading role in promoting a more egalitarian and just system for each and every citizen of Pakistan.

She said this seminar was a small step towards achieving that goal and the aim was to put all minds together to produce a strategy that addressed the substantive issues, which were hindering the delivery of justice. She said the diversity of opinion between the bar and the bench made this seminar even more meaningful.

Ms Jahangir concluded her speech with couplets from Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s poem The Dawn of Freedom, which written in August 1947.