ISLAMABAD: A full court reference was held in Islamabad on Wednesday in honour of the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, as he is retiring today after serving as judge of the Supreme Court and Chief Justice of Pakistan for more than one decade.
In his speech on the occasion, the chief justice said that restoration of judiciary and the role of lawyers and civil society has strengthened judiciary. He hoped that the new chief justice will play a vital role in providing justice to the people.
The newly-appointed Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani paid rich tributes to the outgoing chief justice and said that he has strong muscles. He said the decisions taken by the apex court during the tenure of Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as chief justice will always be remembered.
Attorney General Muneer A. Malik said that the period of Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as the chief justice was a historic one. He said that the chief justice worked for maintaining prestige of the judiciary and rule law.
Following the retirement of Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani will assume the charge as the Chief Justice of Pakistan on December 12.
Justice Jillani will remain the Chief Justice of Pakistan for seven months and will retire on July 6, 2014 after attaining the age of superannuation.
The Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is retiring after delivering a shining performance as the courageous top judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Justice Iftikhar, after his reinstatement in 2009, took scores of suo moto notices on charges of corruption and human rights violations and issued unprecedented number of judgments in such cases.
The role of the top court witnessed a visible change after the independence of judiciary. The chief justice did his best to keep a strict check on corruption in government institutions. Billions of rupees returned to the national kitty as a result of just one suo moto action on the controversial Rental Power Project.
The chief justice also took suo moto notices of financial irregularities in NICL and EOBI besides mismanagement and corruption in connection with arrangements for Hajj.
Thanks to one of such bold initiatives as a result of which the Capital Development Authority (CDA) recovered thousands of canals of land worth billions of rupees from the illegal occupation of mafias.
The chief justice’s notice also brought the powerful murderers of Shahzeb before the court and who can forget the suo moto taken on Sarfaraz Shah’s killing by a Rangers’ personnel in broad day light in Karachi.
When government failed to maintain order in Balochistan and Karachi, it was once again the Justice Iftikhar who took initiatives on the issues of missing persons in Balochistan and target killings in Karachi, and announced crucial judgments.
Waheeda Shah, a leader of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), also had to face disqualification as a result of one such suo moto action after she slapped a presiding officer during elections.
Likewise, suo moto cases ranging from the recovery of liquor from TV actress Atiqa Odho at an airport to graft allegations against his own son Arsalan Iftikhar came before the chief justice.
Apart from these, many other influential and important personalities had to taste the flavor of independent judiciary, for the first time in Pakistan’s history.
According to constitutional and legal experts, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s working day and night for the protection of people’s rights and supremacy of the constitution and law will serve as a guiding light for the future chief justices of Pakistan.
