Bhoon says law minister resigned to endorse bars’ stand

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Ahsan Bhoon Tuesday said the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), high court bar associations and other bar bodies, including the SCBA, did not endorse the latest appointments to the Supreme Court except that of Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah.

Talking to Geo News senior anchorperson Hamid Mir in Capital Talk, the SCBA president said that he had personally requested Law Minister Azam Nazir Tarar that he should resign as all the bar associations were unanimous that the rule of seniority should be maintained while proposing names for the Supreme Court judges.

He said the law minister told him that if he resigns at this stage, then it would be a betrayal with the party and the government, so he didn’t want to deceive anyone. But Tarar told the SCBA chief that the decision to appoint judges weighed on his conscience but he was representing the government and had to abide by the prime minister and cabinet’s decision. And after that being a part of the lawyers community, he called it a day.

Bhoon said that Azam Tarar honoured the bar associations opinion and sacrificed his ministership, and he (Bhoon) “appreciates the stand taken by Azam Nazir Tarar”. About sloganeering at the Asma Jahangir Conference, he said that it was inappropriate as it was not the aura of the conference.