Punjab Governor Salman Taseer (R) addresses a press conference

ISLAMABAD: A letter from Punjab Governor Salman Taseer written to President Asif Ali Zardari during the recent crisis over judicial appointments has revealed apprehensions of alleged nepotism within the superior judiciary as was reported earlier by ‘The Statesmen’.

‘The Statesmen’ has obtained a summary of the governor sent to the presidency with detailed comments about persons nominated for appointment by none other than Lahore High Court Chief Justice, Mr Justice Khawaja Mohammad Sharif.
Exercising his powers under sub-section one of the Article 193 of the Constitution, the governor in his letter to the president had objected to the appointment of nine persons as Lahore High Court judges.

The names were given by the LHC chief justice. Of the nine names to which the governor had objected seven have been sworn in as judges of the LHC.

The governor, in his letter to the president dated Feb 5, 2010, presented detailed legal objections.

The six-page letter mentions the names on which the governor had raised objections, and who have now become the judges. They are: Justice Mian Shahid Iqbal, Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh, Justice Waqar Hassan Mir, Justice Ijaz Ahmed, Justice Hassan Raza Pasha, Justice Qasim Khan and Justice Shahid Hamid Dar.Two of the nominees, Shahid Karim and Gulzar Butt, could not become LHC judges.

The governor in his letter had clearly mentioned that Shahid Karim, Mamoon Rashid Sheikh, Waqar Hassan Mir, Gulzar Butt and Mian Mohammad Rashid advocates were directly or indirectly affiliated with the chamber of the LHC chief justice.

He had also pointed out that Mian Shahid Iqbal, Mohammad Farrukh Irfan Khan, Shaukat Umar Peerzada and M. Anwer Bhour advocates, were closely associated with the Hamid Khan group of bar politics.

Hamid Khan was a leading figure in the lawyers’ movement for the restoration of the deposed judiciary headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

In the paragraph five of the letter, the governor also pointed out a very important legal and constitutional issue.

He said that Article 193 (1) of the Constitution provided that a judge of a high court shall be appointed by the president after consultation with the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the governor concerned, and except where the appointment is that of Chief Justice of High Court.The governor, however, pointed out that the Supreme Court in its July 31, 2009 judgment, has declared in the 198 paragraph that, in the matter of appointment of judges of the High Courts, the governor could only act on the advice of the chief minister in terms of Article 105 of the Constitution”.

The governor said that the Punjab chief minister had also objected to the names of Ijaz Ahmed and Mohammad Ramzan for appointment of the judges in light of their negative vetting by the CID and the Punjab special branch about their conduct and character.