UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER PAKISTAN ORDER CALLING ON JUDGES TO TAKE FRESH OATH
The Special Rapporteur of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on the independence of judges and lawyers, Param Cumaraswamy, today expressed grave concern over developments in Pakistan with regard to the issuance of the Oath of Office (Judges Order 2000) calling upon all judges to take a fresh oath of allegiance to the Provisional Constitutional Order. The Special Rapporteur noted from reports that the Chief Justice and some judges refused to take this fresh oath and as a result instantly lost their office.
An independent judiciary can never be seen to be an adjunct or subservient to the Executive, the Special Rapporteur said. "That is what would happen to a judiciary if its judges took such an oath in the circumstances. I salute the retired Chief Justice and those other judges who refused to take the oath. Their courage and their conviction to the higher principles of judicial independence are to be admired", Mr. Cumaraswamy added
"I am saddened that all other judges in the Pakistan judiciary were not in solidarity on this vital issue which goes to the core of judicial independence", he went on. "The government of Pakistan may no longer be perceived as a government of laws. The rule of law may remain in jeopardy".
The Special Rapporteur indicated that he would raise the matter before the fifty-sixth session of the Commission, which begins on 20 March in Geneva.
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