ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa on Monday said that lawyers should refuse to take up weak cases.
While addressing the Federal Judicial Academy (FJA) in Islamabad, the CJP expressed his wish for the initiation of a movement that aims to reinstate lawyers’ respect in the country, adding that the legal fraternity’s respect was decreasing by leaps and bounds, a matter, which he said was of grave concern and worthy of senior lawyers’ attention.
He also said that lawyers should give due respect to judges. “Lawyers have to give arguments by using his tongue a brain but not by hands. Will it be appropriate if lawyers and judges hit each another?” he said in an apparent reference to the incident where advocate Imran threw a chair at senior civil judge Khalid Mahmood Warriach on April 25 during an argument in court.
“We have to get back on the path of honour and respect between the judge and a lawyer,” he added.
Earlier on April 11, courts in many parts of the country had halted operations as lawyers observed a strike in order to protest against the new National Judicial Policy. Litigants faced troubles due to the strike on the appeal of Pakistan Bar Council.
Although high courts and subordinate courts kept functioning, petitioners were only being given new dates of hearings due to the absence of the legal practitioners.
The CJP opined that law and health were the most respectable professions and there was no room for cheaters in either profession as they fight for others. “The secret of success in advocacy lies in only hard work,” he said.
Khosa further emphasised that Pakistan’s system lacks a training process whereas training for a lawyer is of vital importance so that they may compete and come at par with their peers in the rest of the world, adding that the country’s lawyers are intelligent and just need proper guidance.
Furthermore, he advised judges to not say that they are not satisfied with a lawyer’s argument while lawyers should be present in the courtroom five minutes earlier than the judge.
