LAHORE – Women judges should have a fixed ratio in all superior courts including the Lahore High Court (LHC) where all judges are men, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Asma Jahangir said on Tuesday. She was addressing a seminar at the Lahore High Court Bar Association’s (LHCBA) Karachi Hall in connection with International Women’s Day. LHC Chief Justice (CJ) Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry and Supreme Court (SC) Justice Saqib Nisar were also present on the occasion. Speakers said that women do not have equal opportunities in various fields of life including the judiciary. They said that women were not free from the clutches of men and were victimised in various ways due to the socio-political and economic norms of the country.
Asma said that men have a greater responsibility to think of women’s welfare, as women are related to men in many relations including mother, sister, wife, daughter and friend. She said that in the 20th century, men should realise their duties and stop blocking women’s progress. The SCBA president said that women judges do not practice like their male counterparts and face an unfriendly and discriminatory environment. The renowned human rights activist informed the audience that in her legal career, she contested a lot of family cases and came to know that family laws were discriminatory in case of divorce, custody of children and women were seen running from pillar to post to get justice.
Asma said that all legal department offices including the attorney general, Punjab advocate general and prosecutor general should have women representatives to break the hegemony of men. The SCBA president announced that the association will set up a committee to help women in the legal battle for their rights. The LHC CJ said that women are working hard and have made a place as lawyers in the LHC and very soon women judges will be appointed to the LHC. He said that recently 223 civil judges were inducted in Punjab and out of them 67 were women, who were recruited on merit after conducting tests and interviews during which, the women proved their competence and talent.
The LHC CJ urged women to seek court assistance if they were deprived of their proper share from their parents’ inheritance. He condemned the practice of wata-sata and urged non-government organisations (NGO) to work against this menace.
LHCBA condemns Bhatti’s killing: Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) through a resolution on Tuesday has demanded federal government to expose hands behind federal minister Shahbaz Bhatti’s murder and punish the killers. The Bar also declared interior minister Rehman Malik as a security risk and urged federal government for his immediate removal and added that all CIA and Black water agents should be expelled from the country and Raymond Davis should be punished as per Pakistani laws.
The Bar unanimously passed a resolution tabled by advocate Robinson who said that Bhatti’s murder has exposed government’s inefficiency as country was facing irregular law and order situation. He said Bhatti’s killing caused embarrassment to whole nation as an innocent person was gunned down only because he was minorities’ representative and raised voice for their rights. He held Rehman Malik responsible for Bhatti’s murder and urged him to step down from his office.
