CJP says ‘head hangs in shame’ over Hazara Shia killings

–Chief Justice Nisar regrets parliament not legislating against targetted killing of minority community 

–Says surge in suo motu notices is aimed at providing basic rights to citizens

–Rebukes govt officials over deplorable state of public affairs, summons Dr Baloch and Zehri in Islamabad on 30th

QUETTA: Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar on Tuesday said that “his head hangs in shame due to targeted killings of the Hazara Shia community”.

“We don’t have the privilege to legislate and those who do have it are not legislating,” the CJP said while addressing lawyers in Quetta registry’s bar room.

Earlier, while addressing officials of the Balochistan High Court and district courts, the top judge also sought to clarify the surge in judicial activism, saying the objective of the suo motu notices was to provide basic rights to citizens.

“However, this is not a clarification on my behalf, and neither should the media take it as such,” the CJP went on to say.

The top judge said that he was kick starting legal reforms and urged the lawyers to end the culture of court boycotts to ensure the provision of swift justice.

CJP Nisar said the judges have a lot of work and are thus unable to wrap up cases on time as he attempted to explain backlog of cases.

The CJP also urged the people of Balochistan to invest in education for their children, adding that the struggle for education will have to be fought by the people themselves.

REPRIMANDS GOVT OFFICIALS:

Earlier in the day, Chief Justice Nisar rebuked the top officials of the province over the deplorable state of public welfare as he resumed hearing a suo motu case on various issues of public interest.

A three-judge bench, headed by the CJP and comprising Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Mansoor Ali –was hearing cases at the SC’s Quetta Registry, regarding the plight of public hospitals and medical colleges, and the young doctors’ strike in the province.

During the hearing, the CJP warned Provincial Health Secretary Saleh Nasir of withholding his salary until the province’s doctors are paid their dues. He also said that it was a matter of great concern that the province pays its doctors Rs24,000 a month whereas a driver of the Supreme Court gets paid Rs35,000.

Moreover, Education Secretary Noorul Haq Baloch informed the court that half of the schools in the province don’t have water and added that 11,000 toilets were constructed in the province’s schools in the last three years.

The secretary also informed the court that at least 1,135 primary schools under government supervision do not have all the required facilities. Upon which, the CJP remarked that the provincial government has failed to live up to its promise of ‘good governance’.

The education secretary said that improvement in the region is hindered by a lack of funds and blamed the teachers’ union for politicising everything.

The CJP censured the officials in attendance in the court, saying they haven’t done any paperwork, but are just paying lip-service. Upon this, the secretary said he has prepared data about schools based on the ground realities, but awaited funds to resolve the issues.

He then asked him to submit a policy report in 15 days, observing that, “I used to think the situation in is Sindh is dire but it is worse here.”

The CJP on Monday directed two former chief ministers of Balochistan — Dr Abdul Malik Baloch and Nawab Sanaullah Zehri — to appear before the SC and explain what they did for the improvement of governance in the province during their respective tenures.

“Three chief ministers came during one tenure but what did they do to improve governance?” the CJP had asked, ordering the former provincial chief executives to appear in court and inform the judges about the efforts they made in the last four years to provide relief to the people.

The duo wasn’t in Quetta on Tuesday and so couldn’t appear in court; the chief justice ordered them to appear in Islamabad court on April 30 and adjourned the hearing till Wednesday.