HYDERABAD: Sindh High Court’s Chief Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi has said that those who are running this country and want to see it progressing should ensure every institution or department and holder of constitutional position must work within their respective limits with bona fide intention and avoid interfering in others’ domains.

Judges always exercised restraint and avoided saying things that might not go down well with “some“ people, but they too were humans with wisdom. Though they did have certain limitations still some views had to be expressed, he said.

Justice Abbasi was speaking at annual dinner given in his honour by High Court Bar Association’s (HCBA) Hyderabad chapter here on Friday night.

He said that whenever judges opened their mouths to say something they exercised due caution and always tried to speak through their judgments. Judges had neither any policy nor any agenda, they had only one agenda – administering justice to people. “We don’t have any agenda except for checking violation of law, constitution and human rights and that everyone should perform his [assigned] role,” he said.

Unfortunately, he lamented, individuals and institutions did not perform their role or left any impact on people through their work. As a result, people had to invoke the court’s jurisdiction, he said.

He said that instead of getting disappointed lawyers should keep raising their voice whilst judges would play their role if it came to their domain and issue directives to the institutions concerned. Lawyers must keep in mind that judges had limited scope and they had to work within their predefined parameters, he said.

He said that other matters related to political parties and executive could be taken up. Courts’ doors were open for those who did not have remedy available anywhere, he said, adding Article 199 mandated the judiciary and judges to take up matters of litigants, especially about excesses by the executive, their actions and inactions.

Justice Abbasi said that lawyers were like his family and his 14-year tenure as judge bore witness to the fact that he never disappointed lawyers as far as their just demands were concerned.

He said that it was shameful that murder case of Hidayatullah Lohar, teacher and Sindhi nationalist activist, was not being lodged and said he would make sure it was registered by the police concerned otherwise he would personally ask the sessions judge concerned to order its registration and investigation.

He said that he had quit his practice to become a judge only to serve people as ‘ibadat’ and he knew he would have to face difficulties. When he addressed full court reference he told his brother judges he would make sure as CJ that no interference was made in judges’ work.

Today, he said, he reiterated before lawyers that justice would not only be done but would be seen to have been done.

He said that there was no need to be disappointed in law or judges. The progress might be slow but the law always took its own course and took things to logical end, he said.

He made it clear that Sindh’s judiciary would not bow to any pressure and people would get justice. Regrettably, there was a time when ‘directives’ used to be issued or ‘dictations’ given but it was no longer the case now, he said. “Is it still continuing? No. Nobody has the temerity to approach a judge or issue a directive to any of our judges,” he declared.

On Saturday, Justice Abbasi accompanied by Justices Muhammad Shafique Siddique and Salahuddin Panhwar visited Mirpurkhas. He inaugurated video link facility in central prison, opened the judges’ lodges on SHC premises and then addressed a reception given in his honour by District Bar Association.

Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2024