Otherwise why would they have flooded the courts with Human Rights cases? Wasnt the dictator providing them with due representation and full access to Justice before?
Obviously not as the number of cases suddenly increased after the CJ was rightly reinstated…
And also piece on Arbab Rahim complaining about the courts interference in Karachis traffic mess.. As the Artricle points out, if he were doing his job, why would anyone else need to do it for him? Is he not respnsible for the happenings in provincial administration? Why dont these people do their jobs?
SC loaded with HR cases after CJ’s reinstatement
By Ansar Abbasi
ISLAMABAD: The flow of human rights cases in the Supreme Court of Pakistan has increased manifold following the restoration of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
This trend, it is believed, would further increase in the backdrop of the apex court’s yet another landmark decision on Thursday.Before the July 20th historic return of the top judge, the Supreme Court’s human rights cell was receiving less than 100 complaints of such violations almost everyday. However, in the post-July 20th scenario, the number of such applications has increased manifold.
“Now, we receive hundreds of such cases everyday,” a Supreme Court official confirmed to The News when contacted.He said that the Chief Justice of Pakistan is requested to take suo moto notice in almost 400 complaints now being received per day.
The Supreme Court’s latest decision in the case of Sharif brothers, it is believed, would further increase the number of such complaints. The post-July 20th situation, it is generally said, has given a new sense of security to every citizen, who has now faith that if he or she is wronged by any authority, the courts would be there to give him or her justice.
The SC sources said that the exceptional increase in the number of HR complaints had already over-burdened the cell. Normally, the cell, after proper scrutiny of complaints, receives short-listed HR cases and refers the same to concerned authorities for their views. A number of cases are settled by these authorities once they find the apex court is involved in the matter. The unresolved cases that are found convincing are selected for suo moto action.
It is also believed that this phenomenal increase in the number of complaints is a reflection of the growing faith amongst the masses in the country’s judiciary that is today seen independent for the first time in the history of the country.
With the administrative machinery becoming extremely politicised and forced to dance to the tunes of the rulers in disregard to the law, rules and the system – the government institutions have stopped functioning in line with their mandate.
In such a situation, ordinary people are even denied their fundamental rights while, on the other hand, the powerful and the mighty get away with anything.An official said that in view of this situation, people only look to the apex court to get justice. He admitted that a large number of complaints involved trivial issues, which should be settled locally.
It is relevant to mention here that it was Justice Chaudhry who, after becoming the Chief Justice of Pakistan in 2005, had set up the human rights cell in the apex court to focus on HR violations.
The chief justice has acted distinctively, taking a record number of suo moto notices during the last two years. The issues that were taken up cover police highhandedness, administrative failures, human rights violations, environmental concerns, social evils, etc.
The ongoing case of missing persons, the halting of more than Rs 40 billion New Murree Project, order against Islamabad Chalets housing scheme and the Manu Bheel case are some of the highlights of the suo moto actions taken by the CJ.
These suo moto notices were a clear reflection of the administrative machinery’s failure to deliver. Police and civil administrations are generally found at fault and this was the basic reason that some of the provincial chief ministers had ganged up against the chief justice prior to his suspension on March 9, 2007.
Even of late, Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim was quoted as saying that the judiciary should stick to its role and let the executive do its job. He was reacting to the apex court’s order to control the traffic mess in Karachi. Sounding contemptuous, he said that it was not his but the traffic sergeant’s responsibility to regulate road traffic.
He is perhaps oblivious to the fact that being the chief executive of the provincial government and the head of Sindh’s administrative machinery, it is he who is responsible for any lapse on the part of the provincial administration.
