Judiciary in Pakistan - 9

1 - Fascism on the march By Ardeshir Cowasjee

Week Ending : 13 December 1997 Issue : 03/50

http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/1997/13Dec97.html#fasc

Chief Justice of Pakistan Sajjad Ali Shah (to the Bar and the people he is neither `under restraint' nor `under suspension') was appointed by Benazir in 1994. No judge, or member of the Bar, up to November of this year, voiced any protest against his appointment or his administration. As Rashed Rahman, son of a former Supreme Court judge, wrote about him in The Nation, "That he is a man of courage and has a clean record goes without saying. In that sense he can be compared to a hero of a Shakespearian tragedy whose fall is brought about as much by a flaw in his own character as by outside factors."

2 - Fascdism on the march — II Ardeshir Cowasjee

Week Ending : 20 December 1997 Issue : 03/51

http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/1997/20Dec97.html#fasc

AN open letter to Justice Ajmal Mian, the honourable J-1 of the Supreme Court:

As a citizen of Pakistan, no more no less, I address you, today the principal custodian of the honour and dignity of the judiciary of Pakistan, particularly that of the Supreme Court. You may perhaps have read my column printed last Sunday, the manuscript of which is sent herewith.

The crucial issues pending before your court include;

* Contempt of court action against Nawaz Sharif and seven others.

* Petition regarding the unlawful allotment of thousands of plots by him when chief minister of Punjab.

* Petition regarding the unlawful ISI distribution of Rs 140 million of the people's money to him and others.

3 - Fascism on the march – III Ardeshir Cowasjee

Week Ending : 27 December 1997 Issue : 03/52

http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/1997/27Dec97.html#fasc

The task before the present de facto chief custodian of the Supreme Court, the honourable J-1, Justice Ajmal Mian, is onerous indeed. Before he can reform and unite his 'farishtas' (as the judges of the SC are affectionately known) he has to clean up the paradise over which they preside. The dignity and honour of the court remain desecrated and dented by the mob attack upon it organized by the ruling party. The court must be cleansed and reconsecrated, the sponsors and their stormers punished for committing a criminal act in the face of the court.

4 - Fascism on the march - IV Ardeshir Cowasjee

Week Ending : 03 January 1998 Issue : 04/01

http://www.lib.virginia.edu/area-studies/SouthAsia/SAserials/Dawn/1998/03Ja98.html#fasc

Now, to face reality. Nawaz Sharif had, within six months, managed to remove most of the stumbling blocks in his way. He had so far not touched the judiciary. He soon realized that the superior judiciary, headed by an honest man, was capable of moving against him. He made up his mind that Sajjad Ali Shah would have to go. Having reached this conclusion, he then sought the means.

5 - Storming of the Supreme Court By Ardeshir Cowasjee

21 November 1999 Sunday 12 Shaban 1420

http://www.dawn.com/weekly/cowas/991121.htm

AN affidavit in the case of the storming of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (Cr. Appeal 162/99 arising out of Cr.Misc.27/98) was sworn on November 17, 1999, and placed on the Supreme Court record:

"I, Ardeshir Cowasjee, son of Rustom Fakirjee Cowasjee, Parsi, adult, resident of 10 Mary Road, Karachi, do hereby solemnly state :

6 - Storming of the Supreme Court By Ardeshir Cowasjee

28 November 1999 Sunday 19 Shaban 1420

http://www.dawn.com/weekly/cowas/991128.htm

AN affidavit in the case of the storming of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (Cr.Appeal 162/99 arising out of Cr.Misc.27/98) was sworn on November 27, 1999, and placed on record in the Supreme Court of Pakistan:

"I, Ardeshir Cowasjee, son of Rustom Fakirjee Cowasjee, resident of 10 Mary Road, Karachi, do hereby place on record a letter dated November 26, 1999, written by me to Mr. Aziz Munshi, the Attorney General of Pakistan:

7 - Storming of the Supreme Court By Ardeshir Cowasjee

01 October 2000 Sunday 02 Rajab 1421

http://www.dawn.com/weekly/cowas/20001001.htm

AFFIDAVIT sworn at Karachi on September 27, 2000:

"In The Supreme Court of Pakistan (Cr. Appeal 162/99)...... I, Ardeshir Cowasjee ........ in reference to a front-page news report published in Dawn, the newspaper of record, on September 19, 2000, headed 'Rowdyism at SC: Respondents seek mercy' (Attachment 1) in which has been reported '... After conferring with his clients, the counsel said that his clients had thrown at (sic.) the mercy of the court. Referring to SC judgment in Masroor Ahsan vs. Ardeshir Cowasjee', counsel said that whenever the accused threw himself at the mercy of the court the court showed magnanimity....', do hereby affirm:

8 - The storming of the Supreme Court - II By Ardeshir Cowasjee

08 October 2000 Sunday 09 Rajab 1421

http://www.dawn.com/weekly/cowas/20001008.htm

A letter written to Chief Justice of Pakistan Irshad Hassan Khan, on Friday, October 6 2000 :

"Dear Chief Justice

"Storming of the Supreme Court - November 28 1997

"Following the normal practice regarding sworn affidavits and other papers addressed to the Registry or Judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan at Islamabad, my affidavit sworn on September 27 2000 was presented to the Deputy Registrar at the Supreme Court Registry at Karachi. The Deputy Registrar refused to accept it, and I was asked to send it to the Registrar at Islamabad.

"A special courrier was flown to Islamabad and the sealed enveloped containing the affidavit was handed over to the Registrar at 0830 hours on September 28. The sealed enveloped was bounced from one office to another (the courrier's travails have been conveyed to you by my letter of September 29 2000) and finally the unopened sealed envelope was handed back to the courrier by the Deputy Registrar at 1300 hours that same day. On the receipt he wrote : 'Applications received by mail are not entertained. Hence returned.'