Lawyers’ Movement For The Renaissance Of The Independent Judiciary In Pakistan

Abstract

The conspicuous onslaught between democratic institutions and military establishment has been the most salient feature of the chequered constitutional history of Pakistan until the year 2005 when Mr. Iftikhar Chaudhry assumed the office of Chief Justice of Pakistan. He worked hard for clearing backlog of the old cases, established a human rights cell; and to the utter distaste of military establishment, started taking notices of the controversial matters of Public importance concerning fundamental rights under article 184 (3) of the constitution. He believed in independence of the judiciary and had held the senior government officials to the account for various violations of fundamental rights. Such exercise of jurisdiction falling within the domain of public interest litigation became a serious challenge for the military dictator and the President of Pakistan General Pervaz Musharraf who eventually cudgeled the judiciary. He had dismissed the Chief Justice along with sixty judges. This research essay explores as to how the resistance of the Chief Justice became a catalyst and was characterized as a volte-face of the rampant perception of the people about the judiciary of Pakistan. They apprehended that earlier the courts had always been ratifying subversion of the Constitution of Pakistan by the military dictators. The lawyers’ movement stemming from the refusal of Chief Justice to resign from his office was further advanced by renowned politician and lawyer Barrister Aitezaz Ahsan, and the Bar leaders like Mr. Muneer A. Malik, Mr. Ali Ahmad Kurd and Tariq Mehmud, all the consecutive Presidents of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) during the movement, who were also regarded as pioneers of the movement in order to mobilize the lawyers’ community to rise to the occasion. They also solicited help of and were joined by the civil society, human rights organizations, and political parties to initiate a mass movement which culminated in the restoration of an independent judiciary.

Keywords: military establishment, lawyers movement, independent judiciary