World News | Pak Information Minister Hails Outgoing Chief Justice for 'supporting Minorities'

Islamabad, Jan 31 (PTI) Pakistan's Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry on Monday hailed outgoing chief justice Gulzar Ahmed for "supporting minorities" through independent verdicts.

Justice Ahmed is set to retire on February 1 after two years and 42 days in office. He was appointed to the highest judicial office on December 21, 2019.

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Justice Umar Ata Bandial will take over as the chief justice on February 2.

Information Minister Chaudhry took to social media to praise Chief Justice Ahmad's "historic stand" regarding minorities' places of worship, saying it had greatly increased his honour and prestige.

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"The historic stand he has taken on minority places of worship has greatly enhanced his prestige,” he said.

The minister was apparently referring to the attack on the Teri temple in Karak district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in 2020 by a mob of Islamists.

Justice Gulzar took notice of the incident and ordered the provincial government to restore the shrine-cum-temple to its original condition. If that was not enough, he also ordered the provincial government in October 2021 to recover Rs33 million from the culprits of a religious party involved in vandalism.

Later, the chief justice also celebrated the festival of Diwali at the renovated temple to express solidarity with the Hindu community.

He also took notice of an attack on a Hindu temple in the Rahimyar Khan area of Punjab in 2021. He summoned the Punjab police chief and censured him and his force for its failure to safeguard the temple. He also ordered restoration of the temple and deployment of police for its protection.

Chaudhry, in another tweet, said that judges like Justice Gulzar supported minorities and gave independent decisions, unlike some of their Indian counterparts.

The minister also called for changes in the law about appointment of judges and asked Justice Bandial to improve the image of the judiciary.

He said that five judges of the Supreme Court were set to retire in 2022 and he urged the parliament to bring an amendment in the Constitution regarding judicial appointments.

Yet in another tweet he said that the judges of the top courts should also be answerable for the assets of their spouses and children on the pattern of politicians and bureaucrats.

Without referring to the World Justice Project (WJP) Rule of Law Index 2021, which ranked Pakistan at the fifth position out of six countries in South Asia, he said that the judiciary should try to restore its prestige.

According to the report, Pakistan ranks 130 out of 139 countries on the rule of law index.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)