Jurists can play an important role in resolving issues between Pakistan and India through peaceful negotiation.
Chief Justice (CJP) said this while speaking to a function hosted in the honour of an Indian lawyers’ delegation at the Supreme Court Bar Association.
He said that there was no issue in the world which could not be resolved through peaceful negotiation
“The role of lawyers and jurists cannot be under estimated in terms of providing strong leadership in both countries. Unfortunately, both India and Pakistan have not been able to maintain normal neighbourly relations since their inception. Many issues have dogged this relationship” he added
The CJP said that the institutions of judiciary, in Pakistan and India, had a common cultural, social and colonial background. Both drew inspiration from the same source of jurisprudence and followed the same pluralistic and all encompassing representative democracy based on the twin principles of rule of law and supremacy of the constitution.
He said that the two countries could learn from each others’ jurisprudence. He said that the present visit and interaction between jurists of India and Pakistan will go a long way in improving understanding of each other and demystifying a lingering sense of mistrust and apathy towards each other.
It is not very often that such a large number of legal luminaries and jurists from across the border come to this side of the erstwhile subcontinent.
He said that the All India Bar Association deserved special acknowledgment for playing a key role for upholding rule of law and constitutionalism in India. He said that the leader of the Indian delegation, Aggarwala, had played a significant role in mobilizing the collective wisdom of legal minds at an international level as President of the International Council of Jurists.
During his speech, the CJP lauded services rendered by the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan, by saying that it also merits credit for its role in mobilizing the lawyers’ community, for achieving the cause of constitutionalism and rule of law in the country.
