Amidst all of the judicial mayhem currently in place in Pakistan, the situation had been worsened with religiously orthodox institutions as well as individuals questioning the swearing in of a ‘Hindu’ judge as the acting Chief Justice of the Muslim dominated country. This sounds out of place, especially since the judiciary as a mechanism does not necessarily have to internalise one single religion. However, Pakistan as seen in the past has a ‘knack’ of doing things that are out of place per se.
In a significant development, a constitutional body on Islamic ideology has backed the appointment of Rana Bhagwan Das as the country’s Acting Chief Justice. The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has said that being a Muslim is not mandatory for a judge if the law of the land had been drafted formally. It is a constitutional body that advises the legislature whether or not a certain law is repugnant to Islam. Therefore, a call made by this body will hopefully bring about enough internal pressure so as to not let anyone manipulate the judicial proceedings any further.
For those of you who have not been following the judicial crisis in Pakistan, Justice Das, a Hindu, was appointed as ACJ as he was the senior-most judge in the apex court following the suspension of Chief Justice Iftikar Muhammad Chaudhry on charges of misconduct and misuse of authority by President Pervez Musharraf on March 9. Justice Chaudhary is still awaiting to start the hearing by the special courts bench which will determine whether the charges levied on him stand true or not.
Via: Indian Express
