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Justice (retd) Fakhruddin’s letter to law minister
KARACHI: Former judge of the Supreme Court Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G Ibrahim has disassociated himself from the committee constituted by the ruling coalition for the restoration of the deposed judges. “I am constrained to state that notwithstanding my respect for the two major political parties, who received the public mandate, I cannot be a party to any formula which attempts to reward those judges who have taken oath under the PCO of Nov 3, 2007 and had acted in violation of the Supreme Court order of Nov 3, 2007,” Fakhruddin G Ibrahim wrote in a letter to Law Minister Farooq H Naek, who is also the convener of the committee. In his letter to Law Minister Farooq H Naek, copies of which were also sent to PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif and Chairman, Executive Committee of the Pakistan Bar Council, Fakhruddin G Ibrahim said the first meeting of the committee held on May 3 discussed the proposal of increasing the strength of the Supreme Court judges from 17 to 27, restoration of illegally deposed judges, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry as envisaged in the Murree Declaration and retention of newly inducted judges in the Supreme Court subsequent to Nov 3, 2007. He said he pondered over the proposals and arrived at the conclusion that the Charter of Democracy signed by the late PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif clearly states that no judge shall take oath under the PCO and keeping in view such clause of the charter he could not become a party to devising any formula which may reward those who have acted in violation of the Charter of Democracy. He also referred to the Murree Declaration which promised the people of Pakistan that the deposed judges would be restored to the position as they were on Nov 2, 2007 within 30 days of the formation of the federal government through a parliamentary resolution. Furthermore, he said, five former chief justices as well as 16 other former judges of the Supreme Court also observed that a simple resolution in the National Assembly would provide more than sufficient backing for the executive to the needful which is obligated under Article 5 and 190 of the Constitution to take immediate measures to restore all judges, including the chief justice, removed on Nov 2, 2007. The former Supreme Court judge said he was also party to the said statement in which it was clearly mentioned that no new appointments of the chief justice or judges could be made against existing or non-existing vacancies particularly without consulting the de jure chief justice and on humanitarian considerations the cases of deserving meritorious appointees could be considered for fresh appointments in accordance with the exercise carried out in the Al-Jihad Trust case. He mentioned that keeping in view abovementioned reasons, it would be inappropriate to enlarge the strength of the Supreme Court from 17 to an unwieldy 27 only to accommodate those judges in the Supreme Court who have taken oath under the PCO of Nov 3, despite the order of a seven-member bench of the Supreme Court and despite the provision in the 2006 Charter of Democracy. “Under these circumstances, I cannot persuade myself to continue to participate in the committee proceedings,” he said.
Courtesy Geo