Judiciary always supports army rule

Judiciary should not consider itself as an all-knowledgeable entity.

Former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association Asma Jahangir condemned the judiciary on Wednesday, saying it has always approved military rules in the past.

She said if judges wanted a hand in politics, they should contest elections. Talking to reporters at the Lahore High Court, she said that Parliament, not judiciary, was the supreme body in the country.

The judiciary should not consider itself as all knowledgeable, Asma said, while expressing her reservations over many decisions of the Supreme Court.
The judiciary also disregards decisions of Parliament, she said, while pointing out the annulment of the parliamentary committee’s decisions on judges’ appointment.

She further expressed her inability to understand the SC’s January 10 judgment on the NRO non-implementation case. She said that while the NRO was a complicated issue, she never favoured it.

Asma regretted that state institutions were being politicised and added that no institution was clean.

She advised the judiciary not to keep pursuing the NRO issue but rather take up thousands of other pending cases.

Over the role of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the present tense political situation, Asma said that PML-N is the same party which had, in the past, attacked the Supreme Court.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12th, 2012.