Jiyala judges’ project fails

[LahoreEstate]

Saturday, June 27, 2009

By Usman Manzoor

ISLAMABAD: The popular saying ‘old habits die hard’ truly fits in the case of the Punjab governor, who recently moved a list of seven ‘Jiyala lawyers’ to the chief justice of the Lahore High Court as ‘recommendations received in the Governor’s Secretariat’ for the slots of judges of the LHC.

The chief justice not only rejected the governor’s nominees but also expressed his displeasure over the violation of the Constitution because the summary for appointment of lawyers for the slots of judges had to be initiated from the office of the LHC chief justice, reports said.

The chief justice has set honesty, uprightness and professionalism as conditions for those recommended from amongst the legal fraternity for appointment as judges to the superior judiciary so that no one could raise fingers at them.

High courts of the country were stuffed with ‘Jiyala’ judges earlier this year when Abdul Hameed Dogar was the chief Justice. One of them even chanted the ‘Jiye Bhutto’ slogan soon after taking oath as judge of the LHC.

The list of seven lawyers sent by the Punjab governor included advocates Mian Sarfraz Hassan, Muhammad Abid Saqi, Jehanzeb Khan Bharwana, Syed Mutahir Ali Naqvi, Mumtaz Mustafa, Khwaja Tariq Sohail and Azhar Siddique.

Mian Sarfraz Hassan has remained president of the People’s Lawyers’ Forum (PLF), a body of lawyers affiliated with the PPP and is a famous activist of the PPP in Lahore. Abid Hussain Saqi has remained the president of PLF in Lahore and is currently serving as deputy attorney-general in Lahore. He also remained general secretary of the LHCBA.

Abid Saqi, apart from his affiliation with the PPP, was embroiled in a controversy when he provided shelter to the daughter of Maulana Waheed in his house. The girl had reportedly married a non-Muslim. Jahanzeb Khan Bharwana is famous in Lahore for his affiliation with the PPP while Syed Mazahir Ali Naqvi is a PPP Jiyala from Gujranwala. Lawyers in Lahore say Mazahir Ali Naqvi is a competent lawyer of Gujranwala. However, the reason he was nominated as judge of the LHC was his affiliation with the PPP.

Mumtaz Mustafa is from Rahim Yar Khan and is a member of the Punjab Bar Council. He also remained president Rahim Yar Khan Bar Association. He had been with Tehrik-e-Istaqlal and the PML (Functional) and is currently affiliated with the Khosa Group of the PPP. Khwaja Tariq Sohail, a diehard PPP worker, remained member of the executive committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association. To prove his loyalty to the Khosa-Naek Group, he attended Justice Dogar’s function.

Azher Siddique, also a PPP supporter, has remained media adviser to Munir A Malik and Aitzaz Ahsan but deserted the lawyers’ movement. The LHC chief justice had also forwarded names of nine judges but none of them could make it to the final list.

Those nine lawyers included Sheikh Najamul Hassan, Manzoor Malik, Shahid Mobeen, Shahid Karim, Mian Shahid Iqbal, Malik Muhammad Salim, Muhammad Irfan Wyne, Atir Mehmud and Shahid Mehmud Dar. Sources in the Lahore High Court say these names did not include any famous lawyer and many were from a specific origin and, therefore, none could make it to the LHC.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=22965