Passes bill to enhance number of women judges in SC

Senate resolves to furnish proof of Indian intervention to world

ISLAMABAD: The Senate on Monday passed a resolution asking the government to present documents of Indian intervention in the internal affairs of Pakistan to the international community. It also passed ‘The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1997’, aimed at providing due share to women in the apex court, as the joint opposition staged a walkout from the House on not finding the prime minister around to give replies to the opposition’s seven queries on the Panama Papers.

Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Aitzaz Ahsan said they had heard about the presence of the prime minister in the neighbourhood, a man who did not come to the House, though they waited for him for long. He then led the opposition senators’ walkout from the Senate, saying the premier had no plan to take the senators into confidence on the Panama Leaks issue.

The House also unanimously adopted a resolution, which says: “This House recommends that the government should prepare a complete dossier about Indian interference in Pakistan’s internal affairs fomenting unrest, instability and terrorism and send the same to key international countries and institutions.” It was moved by the PML-N’s Abdul Qayyum.

The bill, moved by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senator Babar Awan, was opposed by Law Minister Zahid Hamid, saying there was no bar on women becoming judges of the apex court or the lower judiciary.

The minister said the Article 177 was quite clear that if a woman wanted to become a judge, she could go for it, adding it was purely a lack of interest on the part of women. He pointed out that the bill provided for the induction of six females as judges in the apex court, which was premature to do so immediately.

“The law does not bar them (women). If a woman wants to become a judge, why not…it is crystal clear that it is lack of interest on the part of women, so we don’t feel the need for this bill,” he added.

Senator Babar Awan said the apex court had not had a single female judge despite the passage of about 70 years, which was not a good omen, as females constituted 60 percent of the total population.

The PPP senator said that they had women in every field such as bureaucracy, medicine and police, but not a single Supreme Court judge in the country’s 70 years history, which was quite worrisome. He urged the government not to oppose the piece of legislation. However, the minister opposed it.

Nonetheless, the bill was passed with 25 votes, while there were 15 votes against it after Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani put the bill for voice voting.It is interesting to point out that the National Party and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), despite being a part of the treasury benches, decided not to side with the government during the voting.

The statement of objects and reasons of the bill states that women constitute more than half of the population, but are unfortunately still under-represented in almost all the institutions, particularly in public sector.

“Despite heterogeneous in ideologies, women improvement remained common agenda of successive governments across the party affiliations. Women are proportionally taken in almost every sphere of life including civil services, district governments, provincial assemblies, and National Assembly and in the Senate,” it added.It stated that women are still deprived of their share in the third and most important branch of the government i.e. the judiciary. The House exhausted the 17-agenda item within 27 minutes – the shortest-ever sitting held under the chairmanship of Mian Raza Rabbani.