Lawyers’ convention stresses uniform accountability

LAHORE: A convention hosted by a lawyers’ action committee on Thursday called for across the board accountability of judges, lawmakers, advocates and bureaucrats.

The prominent participants of the convention were former vice chairman of Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) Ramzan Chaudhry, former secretary of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Zulfiqar Bokhari, sitting members of Punjab Bar Council (PbBC), including Farah Ijaz Baig, Akhtar Hussain Bhatti, Haroon Irshad Janjua, Jamil Asghar Bhatti, Abdul Samad Khan Basriya, Saeed Ahmad Bhutta, former member of the PbBC Rai Bashir and Lahore Bar Association’s president Asim Cheema.

The convention titled “no one is above the law” held at Alhamra was attended by a large number of lawyers from different cities mainly affiliated to PML-Q and PTI. The law officers of federal and Punjab governments also took part in the event.

A resolution unanimously passed by the convention said that no society could progress without a process of accountability. It said no one was above the law and every institution had its internal accountability system, which needed to be made more effective. It said the references sent by the President to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) against Justice Qazi Faez Isa of Supreme Court and Justice KK Agha of Sindh High Court were very much within the ambit of the Constitution.

It said the lawyers were with the SJC and no one will be allowed to damage its credibility or pressurise its honourable members/judges. It urged the SJC to decide the references against the judges in light of the principles of justice.

The convention also demanded of the SJC to decide all pending references against the judges without delay. It condemned a notice issued by the PBC to Federal Law Minister Dr Farogh Naseem for filing the references against the judges. The speakers at the convention said the lawyers’ movement, which started from the suspension of the judges in 2007, entered its final stage now. They said the process of accountability should not be hampered in the country.