Full court reference held to bid farewell to Justice Gulzar

A full court reference was held to bid farewell to Justice Gulzar Ahmad for his elevation as a judge of Supreme Court of Pakistan with tributes by the legal fraternity at Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday. In farewell address, Justice Gulzar Ahmad paid respect to his father advocate Noor Muhammad for supporting and educating him in the field of law. He said, "I am overwhelmed" by the good words uttered his colleagues to pay tribute to him at the farewell.
He said he had received a great support from the lawyers during his contest to win Sindh Bar Council polls in 1999, adding that during his career, judges had also supported him. He said that maintaining of law and upholding supremacy of the Constitution was the primary job of a judge. He said that during his nine years as a judge had tried to deliver justice on merit.
He also paid tribute to the judges who had refused to authenticate the illegal action of former President General Pervez Musharraf (Retd), who had imposed emergency law in the country and suspended the judiciary to prolong his reign on November 3, 2007, thus spurred the judicial movement. He said he wished the law to prevail. Paying tribute to Justice Gulzar Ahmad, Chief Justice of SHC who was the chief guest said he had always delivered justice on merit and upheld the judicial norms. He also congratulated him for his elevation and called his promotion as a good sing for the judiciary.
He said strong institutions were the basic need for the nation to thrive on them and showed regrets over the deliberate trend by the few to weaken the country's key organisations for their own interest. He said growth of institutions had been obstructed. He said the personal interest of few in the country had subdued the nation interest.
He also lauded the media and lawyers for supporting the judicial movement after Musharraf had taken the unconstitutional path on November 3, 2007. He said nobody could dare to challenge the nation's resolve if it wanted to bring the change in the society, it would have to happen whatever circumstance may be prevailing. Justice Mushir Alam said that recruiting of judges in a greater number at SHC had never been an issue to fill the vacant seats, however stressed on the appointment of quality, competent, resolved and steadfast judges to deliver justice on merit. He warned compromise on issues would lead the nation towards the pre-November 3, 2007 era.
Reiterating his philosophy Chief Justice SHC said the judiciary needed judges of strong characters with steadfastness and self-esteem. Earlier, Advocate General Sindh, Abdul Fattah Malik pointed out a key issue of judges' numbers at the court, saying with elevation of Justice Gulzar Ahmad, the strength of judges would reduce to 14 which had taken long time to increase.
Showing concerns, he said, how long the number of judges would remain the same, it was needed to wait. He said judges had big task to dispose of the huge pending cases to decide. He paid tribute to Justice Gulzar and said delivering justice was a harsh ordeal for judges during their career. He urged the judges to seek the remedy to deal with the shortage of judges.
President High Court Bar Association, Anwar Mansoor Khan, President Karachi Bar Association Muhammad Aqil, Prosecutor General Sindh Shahadat Awan, Deputy Attorney General Ashiq Raza, and Vice Chairman Sindh Bar Council, Iftikhar Javed Qazi paid also tribute to Justice Gulzar Ahmad during their speeches. Justice Salman Hamid, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Shahid Anwar, Justice Faisal Arab, Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Justice Aqeel Ahmad, Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi and Justice Muhammad Ali Azhar also attended the farewell.