I am greatly moved by the speech of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, delivered in Judicial Academy, Lahore on Saturday 20th February, carried live by almost all news TV channels of Pakistan. The CJP appeared most convincing and most committed to his responsibilities and the responsibilities of the entire judicial setup. He did not sound like the state functionary as he is, bedecked with formalities and bureaucratic norms, but sounded like a corporate head who meant business, and who wanted to see the bottom line, the net result. He wants to deliver, and he wants all the judges from the junior level to the higher ones in his team to deliver. This is quite relieving, redeeming and reassuring! Now it is our hope and pray that, this attitude and approach of a Chief Judge does not remain an approach of a single person, rather it becomes an institution.
Mr. Rasul Buksh Palejo once said in a TV programme during Musharraf regime that, this man was no ordinary man; he was from another world on some grand mission not seen before. Mr. Imran Khan said after the restoration of CJP by Prime Minister Gillani, though he was a bit sidetracked in that process, that in Pakistan revolutionary changes had already set in, and now Pakistani people would see its effect within six months' time. From the language and body language of the Chief Justice in that gathering, I can see their - and millions' out there - foretelling, dreams and desires coming true.
What was particularly to be noticed in CJP's speech, was his stance that, all judges from district/session courts to the Supreme Court belong to same family, and there should not be any lack of communication and interaction between them. Anybody having any idea of bureaucratic hierarchy in our government and judicial setup would understand how far-fetching and revolutionary action that is going to be! This openness, interactions and moving of ideas along the hierarchy line would surely place checks on corruption, besides increasing efficiency and objectivity. I only hope, the same openness would be talked about and deployed in all other government machineries.
The CJP's most important advice to his fellow judges was to take ownership of the cases they are hearing and their active follow up for reaching conclusion at the earliest. He also advised the High Court chief judges to take continuous and regular cognizance of cases pending in their domains. This, along with the computerization of pending cases as he suggested, would certainly going to take away the whimsical and manipulative authorities of administrative staff of the courts. If so happens, it would revolutionize the entire judicial system in Pakistan.
I only hope, now the media and intellectuals of the country instead of spending time in debating on whether the Judges have become politicized or not, whether they are overstepping their judicial responsibilities and stepping into administrative jobs or not, and whether the judges are speaking through their judgments or otherwise, they should spend time to see if the guidelines given by the CJP are implemented and followed or not. Though, of course, as our politico-feudal mindset is still living in the time of '50s and '60s, and as the influentials think it is their birthright to get the judgments according to their own liking, so this (the 'modernization' of approaches!) will be very hard thing to do!!
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