CJ doing more than Anna Hazare to fight corruption

LAHORE–Supreme Court Bar Association President Asma Jahangir while speaking at the international conference received big applause from the huge gathering when she described Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikar Muhammad Chaudhry doing more than what Anna Hazare in India is doing against the corruption.

At a point during her speech at the inaugural session of three-day international conference organised by Supreme Court Bar Association here Friday, Asma said she was asked by her Indian friends if you have anyone like Anna Hazare fighting corruption. And she replied, “We have CJ Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary doing more than what Hazare is doing. The CJP who was the chief guest of opening session passed a smile while the hall rose to loud clapping and slogans for the CJ.

In her speech, Ms Jahangir condemned the blast on the premises of the Delhi High Court and said, despite that terror act, the Indian jurists kept their sprit high and came to Pakistan to attend the conference, which was highly commendable. She said people on both side not only share common problems but also common history and their mutual cooperation and help can go a long way to overcome the difficulties.

She said mutual cooperation of the legal fraternity on the side of India and Pakistan can make their respective government to change their mind in favour of peace and peaceful coexistence.

She said her bar has always found support from the CJP and if the Bar differed with the judiciary on any matter, it was within the spirit of independence of judiciary and the theme the bar and the bench are two sides of the same coin and have to mutually work for the rule of law, independence of judiciary and to work to advance the cause of judicial system.

Indian SCBA President Pravin H Parekh speaking on the occasion lauded the SC restoration of CJP to the office first through a judiciary verdict on July 20, 2009 and then through a move on March 16, 2009. He also lauded the lawyers’ movement for the restoration of judges and how it inspired the Indian lawyers. He said India and Pakistan share a number of commonalities and by pooling their ideas and actions at the intellectual level they could meet many challenges including terrorism. He said terrorism has no faith and space and their combined efforts can defeat this evil in any form and anywhere in the world. Counting the commonalities he said, both Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Mohtama Ghandi were lawyers while cricket and hockey are liked by people of both the sides. He said our common ground can be big help to meet challenges and problems of the time.