**Look , what these people will do when they will sit on thier seats. 78 judges to be appointed and PPPP as usual its track record in 1988-1990 and 1993-1996 appointing its Jiyalaas on such important seat like PPP done this in PIA, WAPDA, Railways , Corporations, Steel Mill , banks, Planning Commission, Intelligence Bureau , Foreign Ministry etc etc. Will these Sifarshi dare to listen any case against NRO , massive corruption of PPPP and loot mar and chor bazari of this government. Salute to Democracy. Surely Nawaz Sharif is right in saying , we are heading towards a Failed State **
PPP loyalists set to grab posts of judges
Thursday, December 18, 2008
By Usman Manzoor
ISLAMABAD: In violation of the Charter of Democracy (CoD) signed between Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, the government of Pakistan People’s Party is set to appoint new judges without forming a commission as was promised in the Charter.
The News has learnt that the government was mulling over the induction of PPP loyalists as judges into the Lahore High Court (LHC) in two phases in total disregard to the CoD. However, the government sources, when contacted for comments, denied that any move was being made to appoint the party loyalists as high court judges. “This impression is totally wrong. Only deserving and competent people would be appointed judges purely on merit,” they added.
According to sources, proposed for new appointments are the names of Lahore High Court Bar Association President Manzoor Qadir, Member of Pakistan Bar Council Ramzan Chaudhry, Pervez Inayat Malik, Abid Saqi, Mian Jehangir, Habibullah Shakir, Mumtaz Mustafa, Anwarul Haq Panoo, Syed Intekhab Shah, Raja Shafqat Abbasi and Shahram Sarwar Khan.
Under the CoD, signed on May 14, 2006, the former prime ministers vowed a joint struggle for the restoration of democracy in the country and undoing the amendments made to the Constitution by the military regime led by Pervez Musharraf.
The two leaders had agreed on constituting a commission that would suggest to the prime minister three names for each judicial vacancy. The premier will forward one name to a joint parliamentary committee for confirmation through a transparent public hearing process.
Going by media reports, the names have already been finalised while some female lawyers affiliated with the PPP are also being considered for judicial posts. Well-placed sources in the ruling party confided to this scribe that not a single step had been taken towards the formation of the commission and people loyal to the PPP were going to be appointed as judges.
“Unfortunately, the Charter of Democracy signed by Shaheed Benazir Bhutto (and Nawaz Sharif) is being flouted once again. A commission was to be formed to recommend the names of judges,” they observed.
About the formation of a joint parliamentary committee, one PPP lawyer claimed: “Vacant posts of high court judges are being filled with people who would continue to hold these positions for the next 20 to 25 years.” If a commission or a committee was formed after the induction of the new judges, he asked, who would remove the political workers.
The name of Shafqat Abbasi, who was once elected as an MPA on the PPP ticket and contested the February 18 polls, has reportedly been proposed for the post of a judge. A known PPP loyalist, he has been an active member of the Pakistan Bar Council, representing the Khosa group.
Similarly, the source revealed that Mian Jehangir was arrested and held in the infamous Lahore Fort during the Zia regime for links with the PPP. He is a non-practising lawyer, according to the source, who claimed that Chairman of the Executive Committee of Punjab Bar Council Intekhab Shah and a PPP worker from Multan Habibullah Shakir were also chosen for the slots after they ditched the lawyers’ movement and joined the Naek-Khosa group.
One leader of the lawyers’ movement disclosed that the name of Manzoor Qadir, the president of the Lahore Bar Association, was proposed because he claimed to be a PPP worker. Another aggressive lawyer who made a fiery speech at a meeting of the Lahore Bar Association during the visit of Justice Khwaja Sharif was picked up and offered the post of a judge.
After his desertion, a number of lawyers joined the government camp. The source warned that political activists appointed as judges would hold their offices for the next couple of decades.
The Clause 3(a) of the CoD says: “The recommendations for appointment of judges to the superior judiciary shall be formulated through a commission, which shall comprise the following: i. the chairman shall be a chief justice, who has never previously taken oath under the PCO; ii. the members of the commission shall be the chief justices of the provincial high courts who have not taken oath under the PCO, failing which the senior-most judge of that high court who has not taken oath under PCO shall be the member; iii. the vice-chairman of the Pakistan Bar Council and vice-chairmen of Provincial Bar Associations with respect to the appointment of judges to their concerned province; iv. the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, v. presidents of High Court Bar Associations of Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, and Quetta with respect to the appointment of judges to the provinces concerned; vi. Federal Minister for Law and Justice and vii. Attorney General.
“(3a-i) the commission shall forward a panel of three names for each vacancy to the prime minister, who shall forward one name for confirmation to a joint parliamentary committee for confirmation of the nomination through a transparent public hearing process.
“(a-ii) the joint parliamentary committee shall comprise 50 percent members from the treasury benches and the remaining 50 percent from the opposition parties based on their strength in parliament and nominated by respective parliamentary leaders.”