Islamabad, Nov 6 : Emphasising that missiles and tanks can never guarantee stability and security, Pakistan's Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has said that judges have to ensure that all state institutions maintain the supremacy of the law.
“Gone are the days when stability and security of the country was defined in terms of number of missiles and tanks as a manifestation of hard power available at the disposal of the state,” Chaudhry said.
“As a guardian and protector of the Constitution of Pakistan, a heavy responsibility lies upon the judges of the Supreme Court to uphold the canons of constitutional predominance and its supremacy over all other institutions and authorities,” he said, while addressing a delegation from the National Management College yesterday.
There was some speculation yesterday that the Chief Justice's remarks were in response to comments by the powerful army chief, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, about no single institution having a monopoly in defining national interests.
However, officials clarified that the Chief Justice had delivered his address almost an hour before the military issued a statement with Kayani's remarks.
Kayani did not explain the context of his remarks though analysts said they were a response to orders issued by the Supreme Court for action against former army chief Gen Mirza Aslam Beg and former Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Asad Durrani for distributing money to politicians to rig the 1990 general election.
The Chief Justice's address focused more on the importance of constitutionalism and its role in guiding economic and social development to achieve a welfare state.
Chaudhry said it was regrettable that weak administration and failure of the implementation framework was prevalent everywhere.
“There seems to be no cohesive efforts in terms of a national framework wherein the mega issues have been tackled in an appropriate manner,” he said.
