Showing posts with label Nawaz Sharif. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nawaz Sharif. Show all posts

Friday, 3 February 2017

Pakistan Supreme Court seems to be going overboard


An application has evidently been filed in the Pakistan Supreme Court for summoning the Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in connection with the allegations of corruption in the Panama gate affair.

Can anyone in Pakistan ( preferably some lawyer ) inform me under which provision of Pakistan's Constitution this case in the Pakistan Supreme Court is going on ? Is it under the Court's original juriction under Article 184 of Pakistan's Constitution, or under its appellate juriction under Article 185 ? So far as I can gather from the internet, the original jurisdiction is limited to disputes between states, or where a Fundamental right is involved. None of these contingencies seem to be involved in this case.

I had some years earlier criticized the Pakistan Supreme Court for flouting all canons of jurisprudence by removing the then Prime Minister Mr. Gilani from office. A Prime Minister holds office as long he has the confidence of Parliament, and he does not in addition need the confidence of the Supreme Court.( see my article which was published in the Pakistani newspaper online ).



This time also, it appears to me, the Pakistan Supreme Court is going overboard, and is lacking the self restraint expected of a superior court

Sunday, 25 May 2014

A Welcome Move: Invitation to Nawaz Sharif

The invitation by Mr. Modi to the Pakistan Prime Minister to attend the oath taking ceremony should be welcomed.

All well meaning people should want good relations between India and Pakistan. We are both poor countries. About 75% people in both countries suffer from poverty, hunger, unemployment, and lack of health care and good education for the masses.

We both presently spend huge amounts on our armed forces. If we have good relations this huge amount of money can be spent on eliminating the abovementioned socio-economic evils and on welfare programmes. If, however, we fight with each other we will continue  to spend huge amounts on armaments ( presently both India and Pakistan are among the 5 top purchasers of arms in the world). India's 2013-14 defence budget was Rs. 2 lakh crores (over $40 billion) of which over 41% was for buying new weapons. 

The test of every system is whether it is raising the standard of living of the masses. Poverty, hunger, unemployment, disease, etc have no religion or caste. Therefore India and Pakistan should collaborate in eliminating our massive socio-economic evils, rather than fighting with each other.

  -Justice Katju