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Govt fully supports independent judiciary, claims Jabbar

ABBOTABAD: The Advisor to Chief Executive on Information and National Affairs, Javed Jabbar, has said that the government supports the strengthening of an independent judiciary.

"Despite the existence of an extraordinary legal dispensation in the country today, the government has proven by its word and deed that it fully supports an independent judiciary," he stated while addressing a meeting of the Abbotabad District Bar Association.

Jabbar said that in recognition of the fact that since October 12, 1999, Pakistan is being governed under a unique legal dispensation, the government of Chief Executive Gen. Pervez Musharraf supports the strengthening of an independent judiciary.

The largely attended meeting held in the premises of the District Bar, here on Saturday, comprised over 200 senior and junior advocates as well as special invitees and journalists.

Abbotabad District Bar Association President Rauf Khan Jadoon welcomed the chief guest.

The Advisor said that even though the constitution is placed in abeyance and the Parliament has been suspended, martial law has not been declared.

"Thus, there was neither the unqualified supremacy of civil law, nor the unqualified supremacy of military rule. This unique dispensation is necessitated by considerations of the national interests alone and, therefore, this transitory period could be described as neither civil law, nor martial law but as national law," said Jabbar.

He said, the government had itself voluntarily chosen to place itself under the checks and balances of the judicial process as defined by civil constitutional law.

Javed Jabbar said that just as the lawyers at the district courts level dealt directly and daily with the citizens seeking justice at the grass-roots level, so too did the present government want to establish a framework for a new local government system at the district level which would be directly and promptly responsive to the needs of the people.

He said the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has activated the dormant Supreme Judicial Council and has taken many steps in the past eight weeks to clear the backlog of cases and facilitate the accountability mechanism of the judiciary.

Jabbar said that the Chief Justice has also taken suo motu interest in asking the government to explain the justification for the temporary ban on public meetings by political parties, processions and strikes.

Petitions challenging the change of government on Oct 12, 1999 are being heard in public hearings held by the Supreme Court and all arguments are fully expressed and reported, he said.

"In December 1999, the Supreme Court delivered a judgement on Riba entirely independently and the government is currently studying the details of how the decision is to be applied to the economy."

The Advisor said that as recently as March 31, 2000, the Sindh High Court has acquitted Asif Zardari in a corruption case which is also proof of the independence of the judiciary because if the government wanted to wrongly implicate an individual conicted in a case or pressurise the judiciary as some governments have done in the past, then such an acquittal could not have been possible.

As regards the attempted plane hijacking case conducted in Karachi against Nawaz Sharif and his accomplices for over three and half months, the Advisor said that about four days ago on PTV, the chief defence lawyer had acknowledged his complete satisfaction with the fairness and impartially with which the Judge had conducted the trial.

"Moreover, every single hearing of this case was observed in full by representatives of international and national media as well as overseas countries and the relations and friends of the accused," said Jabbar.

The accused made statements to the media even during the pendency of the trial, he said.

"All these indicators proved that despite the existence of an extraordinary legal dispensation in the country today, the government has proven by its word and deed that it fully supports an independent judiciary," he added.

Jabbar said that, similarly, the government supports an independent Press as one of the essential pillars of a democratic society.

He said "This is surely the first military-led government in the world which has not taken a single step to curb freedom of expression in the Press."

"Instead, it has actually facilitated the stability and independence of the Press by ensuring that amounts long overdue to the Press for official advertising worth over Rs. 175 million are released to various newspapers," said Jabbar.

In another sectors of society as well, Javed Jabbar said that the present government fully supports the existence of an active civil society groups such as professional associations such as bar associations, forums of doctors, engineers, accountants, architects, NGOs and community-based organisations, etc.

The Advisor said that the government is conscious of the fact that in this exceptional legal situation in which the government wants to respect all human rights to the maximum extent possible, the application of a strong law like the Accountability Ordinance through the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), is a relatively tough law that enables government to hold a person without charge for 90 days.

However, the Advisor emphasised that such measures were necessary only in extraordinary circumstances such as the present times because the government wanted to recover amounts plundered or concealed illegally by individuals or obtain evidence of misuse of public office.

He cited examples of how the NAB had been able to recover large amounts of money from various defaulters in a very short period.

Appreciating the services to the cause of law and justice rendered by the Abbotabad District Bar Association, the Advisor assured the office-bearers and members that all efforts would be made to facilitate the Association in redressing problems faced by its members.

Jabbar also answered several questions from the members of the Bar after his address and clarified several issues.

Earlier, Rauf Khan Jadoon, President of the Association, gave details of the history of the Abbotabad Bar. He emphasised that the Abbotabad District Bar Association welcomed the 7-point agenda of the Chief Executive and is extending support to its fulfilment. APP