MoU signed between Judiciaries of Pakistan and AJK

ISLAMABAD: Meeting of the National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee (NJPMC) was held under the Chairmanship of Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Chief Justice of Pakistan/Chairman, NJPMC here on Saturday.

During the meeting, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Judiciaries of Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir for bilateral cooperation for improving the capacity and performance of justice sector institutions by setting up performance standards.

The Chief Justice said that administration of justice is a pre-requisite for rule of law in a society and the Judiciary plays central role in promoting social justice by shielding the rights of every citizen, adding that with each passing day the level of confidence in the Judiciary is increasing and in this regard National Judicial Policy has played an important role.

Justice Muhammad Azam Khan, Chief Justice of AJK stated that in past there was no formal interaction between the Judiciaries of AJK and Pakistan, however, after restoration of independent Judiciary, the Chief Justice of Pakistan provided us an opportunity to participate in the meetings of the NJPMC and to observe the impact of National Judicial Policy on the justice system.

This informal interaction lead the AJK Judiciary to apply the strategies provided in the National Judicial Policy for clearing the backlog. After realising the results, we decided to institutionalise this informal interaction by signing MoU for bilateral cooperation.

He hoped that this MoU will play important role in strengthening the administration of justice in the State of AJK.

The meeting was attended by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, Judge Supreme Court of Pakistan, Justice Agha Rafiq Ahmed Khan, Chief Justice Federal Shariat Court, Justice Qazi Faez Isa, Chief Justice High Court of Balochistan, Justice Mushir Alam, Chief Justice, High Court of Sindh, Justice Dost Muhammad Khan, Chief Justice, Peshawar High Court, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Chief Justice, Lahore High Court, Justice Muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi, Chief Justice, Islamabad High Court, Justice Faisal Arab, Judge, High Court of Sindh and Registrar, Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Besides Chief Justice, Supreme Court AJK, Justice Raja Saeed Akram Khan, Judge Supreme Court of AJK, Justice Rana Muhammad Arshid Khan, Chief Judge, Supreme Appellate Court Gilgit-Baltistan, Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal, Chief Justice, High Court of AJK, and Justice Sahib Khan, Chief Judge, Chief Court of Gilgit-Baltistan also attended the meeting.

The Committee will meet again today (Sunday) to discuss the remaining agenda items.—PR