SCBA president cautions opposition against 'third force'

Yaseen Azad, president Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), on Monday warned against any unconstitutional move by the political rivals of the incumbent democratic government to dislodge it, saying any such move would allow the "third force" to seize power. Addressing a press conference at Karachi Press Club, he said that lawyers would resist any unconstitutional move in the country.
He urged political parties of the country to resolve their differences and problems in the Parliament and refrain from taking these to the Supreme Court as it was hurting the interests of poor litigants. He said that the agitation and protests of political parties should remain under constitutional limits, so that the 'third force' could not get the opportunity to seize power.
He questioned that as to where the poor litigants would go if political issues started to land in the courts. To avoid clash between institutions, every state organ was needed to act in its constitutional perimeters, he underlined. The SCBA president said that the legal fraternity had no political agenda to support any political party against the others, rather they would just defend the national interests, independence of judiciary and political stability in the country.
He opined that the national institutions were moving towards destruction. He said that the country needed not only independent judiciary but independent judges too, with an independent bar keeping a vigil on judiciary. He said the high courts of all the four provinces were lacking the sanctioned strength of judges, adding that Sindh High Court had only 14 judges against its sanctioned strength of 40 judges. After 18th and 19th Constitutional Amendments, Azad said, it was now the responsibility of judicial commission headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan to appoint judges to superior judiciary. He urged the judicial commission to appoint competent judges to fill the vacancies in the higher judiciary.
To a question, the SCBA president said lawyers would not become party of the opposition drive against President Asif Ali Zardari rather would act in the larger national interests. He said no judgmental comments should be made on the 'memogate' issue, unless complete investigation into the issue was carried out. He was flanked by President KPC Tahir Hassan Khan, besides a number of senior lawyers.