Not going anywhere: Justice Mansoor

ISLAMABAD: Senior puisne judge of the Supreme Court Syed Mansoor Ali Shah on Saturday refuted the rumors about his resignation and said he would discharge his duties with dedication and would not flee anywhere.

Talking to journalists informally after addressing a function held here in the Federal Judicial Academy on providing justice to children, Justice Mansoor clarified that the reports about his resignation were mere speculations.

When questioned whether rumours about his resignation were true, the apex court judge replied that they were all mere speculations, adding that he would not run away or go anywhere, and he would continue to do what he could.

Earlier, addressing the launching event “Reimagine Justice for Children in Pakistan”, a joint venture of Federal Judicial Academy and Unicef, Justice Mansoor underscored the need to work together to create a compassionate and just system for children.

“For our children who are not only our future but also our present, we cannot wait to set mechanism in motion step by step, we must act now,” he said, adding that we must prioritise the rights of children because this was essential for them to exercise and enjoy their human rights today and because it was an investment in our future. “Although I am not a part of the Constitutional Bench, but my colleagues will listen to your stand,” he said, adding that when a child appears in our courts, we do not give them a chance to speak but listen to the position of their parents.

Justice Mansoor said that from now on, if a child appears in court, his words should also be heard, adding that the judiciary should protect the rights of children by including them in the decision-making process. “If a parrot is stolen, the child is sent to jail. Children should not go through the court system, child cases should not take 15 to 20 years,” Justice Mansoor said, adding that there was a need in which the cases related to the crimes of children could be decided quickly and “we have to see what our justice system is doing for children”.

He further said that the cases related to children should be heard immediately as today children were facing threats like “cyber bullying”. He further said that more than 25 million children were not going to school in the country while we don’t have facilities related to special children, rituals like girl child marriage today. “We should be ashamed of all this, the forced conversion of religion is also a big problem, the trend of beating children in school is still there today.”

Addressing Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, another judge of the Supreme Court, who was also present at the event, Justice Mansoor said that there was a need to interpret Article 11 sub-clause 3 of the Constitution related to children. “As I cannot interpret it because I am not a member of the Constitutional Bench but you can and I’m sorry, I have to say this again and again, but what can I do now, I can’t interpret this,” he said.