Free judiciary ensures economic security: Iftikhar

MULTAN - Deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry Friday elaborated the relationship between independent judiciary and economic growth of any country, saying ‘investment shies away from economies and countries that do not have an independent judiciary’.

“What capital and investment, both domestic and foreign, primarily need is security. Before an investor brings his funds into a country, he makes sure that judiciary in that country is independent and the judges are fearless,” Justice Chaudhry noted while addressing the participants of a dinner hosted by High Court Bar Association Multan.

Citing a report published in a foreign monthly, he said that it presented the findings of a commission on the legal empowerment of the poor that asserted that the main reason why so much of humanity remained mired in poverty was that it was outside the rule of law.

“Inflation and rising prices are also a part of the same phenomenon. Simply stated: it is a question of supply and demand. Without investment there can be no increase in production and opportunities of employment,” he argued and added that without increase in production capacity, net employment used to decrease and unemployment go up. He said that the salaries also went down in case of more unemployed people competing for the same number of jobs.

He said that he was highly sensitive to the spiral of prices when he was functioning as Chief Justice of Pakistan. “You will recall that in a petition filed in Supreme Court I had summoned all government departments concerned that determine the prices of petroleum products. We were about to come up with a rational pricing formula but the proceedings were subverted by illegal actions of November 3, 2007,” he regretted.

Justice Chaudhry underlined the importance of independent judiciary for survival of democracy, saying no strong and stable parliament could be constructed on the debris or ruins of an independent judicial edifice. “An independent judiciary is, in fact, the most significant protection available to parliament. There can be no democracy without law. Without an independent justice system democracy remains in jeopardy and eventually degrades into lawlessness and anarchy,” he added.