SC serves notices to defiant Nov 3 judges

ISLAMABAD - Supreme Court of Pakistan here on Monday issued contempt of court notices to all those judges
who had defied the courts November 3 decision.
A 14-member larger bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry heard the high profile case
of PCO judges that contains 34 different petitions. Federation, Sindh High Court (SHC), and Pakistan Bar Council
are parties to the case. The contempt of court notices have been served to the judges who took oath under
provisional constitutional order from November 3 2007 to December 15 2007.
Initiating the proceedings, SC observed that the case had been divided into four categories of judges and it would be
heard accordingly. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry strongly rebuked former judge of Lahore High Court (LHC)
Justice Zulfiqar Bukhari for his statement that the famous decision of Supreme Court dated July 31 2007 was a
stigma on the judiciary.
The apex court took strong exception to the said statement and instructed Zulfiqar Bukhari to come to the rostrum
to explain his stance. The CJ, while addressing Bukhari, remarked, You have said that SCs July 31 decision was a
stigma on judiciary; we wont tolerate anything that could compel the people to abuse judges, those times are gone
past.
The speechless former judge sought the help of former Attorney General (AG) Malik Qayum to defend him, but
Qayum refused to represent Bukhari. The apex court then issued contempt of court notice to Bukhari.
During the courts proceedings, Nadeem Ahmed advocate withdrew the petition arguing that Supreme Courts
detailed verdict regarding July 31 removed all the ambiguities that required legal translation and the petition did not
need any further elaboration. The apex court returned the petition of former LHC judge Justice Naseem Sikander
upon the grounds that the petitioner had received superannuation. Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry observed that both the
petitioners i.e. Justice Naseem Sikander and Nadeem Ahmed advocate did not have any judge as party to the
petitions. He further observed that the case in question was not an ordinary case for it was focussing on an
important issue of the constitutional history of Pakistan. This is not an ordinary case, and we would ensure that the
supremacy of the constitution is not undermined, he said.
SC also issued contempt of court notices to two prominent newspapers that published the statement of Justice
Zulfiqar Bukhari regarding judiciary. The case is adjourned till October 12 of this month.