Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, reaffirming his faith in democracy, on Saturday said that all the institutions of country have to work together in order to bring harmony and peace to the country.
Addressing a delegation of PAF Air War College, the chief justice said, “All the institutions of Pakistan have to work together in order to bring harmony and peace to the country. Moreover, the rule of law which is the basic trait of a democratic society can only be achieved through the collective and collaborative commitment of all our national institutions.”
Furthermore, he said that the Constitution was the supreme law of the land and all the three organs of the state – the executive, legislature and the judiciary – were its creation.
Therefore, he said, it was the foremost duty of these state organs to work for the protection of the Constitution.
He went on to say democratic governance promoted economic development, peace and security.
The chief justice found it unfortunate that there had been several instances of constitutional deviations and subversions in the history of the country. He said these extra-constitutional interventions tainted Pakistan’s constitutional history with successive coup d’états and dissolutions of elected governments. Resultantly, non-state elements became active and created an atmosphere of political and democratic instability, he said.
He held the country was facing challenges of terrorism, extra-judicial killings, nepotism and corruption. He stressed that it was high time that all the institutions of Pakistan joined hands in bridging institutional gaps and removing rifts in order to turn Pakistan into a true welfare state.