CJP warns against extra-judicial steps

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Friday said that nobody would dare to take any extra-judicial step in the country and that only the rule of law will prevail.
Speaking at a ceremony to inaugurate the lawyers’ chambers and club, the CJP said that those who were speculating about extra-judicial steps had narrow thinking. “We will not let any opportunist to take over and no judge will take oath against the constitution,” he added. He said the judges had decided that no one will cross the lines of law and constitution. He said the Supreme Court in its July verdict had declared November 3, 2007 emergency null and void.
The chief justice praised the “great sacrifices” rendered by the lawyers for the independence of judiciary. “We have proved by our actions as to how there will be the supremacy of law,” he added. “I call November 3 emergency not an emergency, instead I describe it as a martial law,” the chief justice said. He said that judges had pledged that no one would take oath against the constitution. He also urged for a corruption-free judiciary, saying corruption in courts adversely affects and lowers the confidence of the litigant public in the judicial system. “Our wholehearted efforts will come to nothing if the evil of corruption is not firmly checked,” he said, adding that transparency in the functioning of courts and eradication of corruption in all its manifestations was the cornerstone of the National Judicial Policy (NJP) 2009.
He said the policy suggested strict adherence to the code of conduct by all officials of the judiciary, as well as initiation of disciplinary action against the corrupt.