Islamabad: The following is the open letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar

Mohammad Chaudhry from Supreme Court advocate Naeem Bokhari.

Mr. Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry
Chief Justice
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Islamabad
Subject: Open letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan
My Lord,
I write this letter as an Officer of the Supreme Court, as an Advocate enrolled in the apex court
since 1984 and in the High Courts since 1972, as an Attorney who has paid more income tax
from his earnings in the legal profession than many of my friends, colleagues and seniors
elevated to the Bench and as a stake holder in the dispensation of justice, intimately and vitally
interested in the functioning of the Supreme Court.
Many judges who adorn the Bench in the Supreme Court and the High Court know me over
decades, as a person endowed by nature with a pleasant disposition and acceptance of human
failings. Towards the courts, my approach has always been of consistent and continuous display
of respect and humility. I bow out of conviction, not compulsion. I use the words My Lords,
because I want to, not because I have to. As an Attorney, I look up to the court and want to see it
on a high pedestal of dignity, compassion and justice, tempered with mercy.
I have seen my Supreme Court headed by Justice Hamood-ur-Rehman, Justice Yaqoob Ali
Khan, Justice S. Anwar-ul-Haq, Justice Haleem Ahmed and how the court functioned under
them in the seventies / eighties.
I witnessed the proceedings for the ouster of Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, became aware that the then
Prime Minister of Pakistan had worked on some judges of the Supreme Court and saw the
physical assault on the court.
I was appalled at the manner in which Justice Irshad Hasan Khan led the Supreme Court and
pained at the insinuations against Justice Sheikh Riaz, when he was the Chief Justice.
I was horrified by the establishment of a Bench of five judges constituted by Justice Nazim
Hussain Siddiqui to determine whether reduction in the retirement age for judges was
constitutional or not. This was clearly designed to block your appointment. I was against the idea
of Mr. Amirul Mulk Mengal being made the Chief Justice before you. Within the limits of my
influence (which I readily admit to be very limited), I was totally for you to become the Chief
Justice. Justice Javed Buttar is aware of my position, as is the Attorney General for Pakistan. The

accelerated issue of the notification appointing you the Chief Justice put Justice Siddiquis move
to rest.
I believed that you were vigorous, capable of lifting up the Supreme Court, creating an espiritde-corps among your brother judges, restoring the dignity and grandeur of the apex court,
particularly considering the long tenure before you.
Alas this has not come about.
I am not perturbed by your insistence on protocol (despite my belief that the Chief Justice would
rise in the eyes of everybody if he walked from his residence to the court and hooters, police
escort, flags is just fluff not the substance of an office).
I am mildly amused at your desire to be presented a guard of honour in Peshawar. I am titillated
by the appropriation of Mercedes Benz car or is it cars, the use of the Government of the
Punjabs plane to offer Fateha in Multan, to Sheikhupura for Fateha on a Government of the
Punjab helicopter, to Hyderabad on a Government of the Sinds plane for attending a High Court
function, the huge amount spent in refurbishing the chamber and residence of the Chief Justice,
the reservation for yourself of a wing in Supreme Court Judges guest house in Lahore, the
permanent occupation by the Supreme Court of the official residence of the Chief Justice of
Sind, who per force lives in the basement of his fathers house. As his class fellow in the
Government College, Lahore, I can vouch that living in the basement will do him no harm.
I am not perturbed that Dr. Arsalaan (your son) secured 16/100 in the English paper for the Civil
Services Examination, that there is some case against him in some court in Baluchistan, that
from the Health Department in Baluchistan he has shifted to FIA, that he has obtained training in
the Police Academy, that he reportedly drives a BMW 7-Series car, that there is a complaint
against him with the National Accountability Bureau.
My grievances and protests are different.
I am perturbed that the Supreme Court should issue a clarificatory statement on his behalf. I am
perturbed that Justice (Retd.) Wajihuddin Ahmed should be constrained to advise you on
television that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others. I am
perturbed that the Chief Justice should summon Mir Shakeel-ur-Rehman to his chambers on Dr.
Arsalaans account.
I am appalled that you announce decisions in Court, while in the written judgment an opposite
conclusion is recorded.
In the Petition for leave to appeal filed by Dr Sher Afghan Niazi, Federal Minister for
Parliamentary Affairs (in which Respondents Counsel were Mr Khalid Anwar and Mr Qadir
Saeed), you refused to grant leave in open Court and yet in the written order, leave was granted
to Dr Sher Afghan Niazi.

On 15.2.2007, Mr Fakurddin G. Ebrahim complained that, in open Court you had accepted his
appeal but dismissed the same in the judgement, subsequently recorded.
If Mr Khalid Anwar, a former Minister of Law and Parliamentary Affairs and Mr Fakrhuddin,
Senior Counsel are treated in this manner, the fate of lesser known lawyers would certainly be
far worse.
My grievances also concern the manner in which the last and highest court of appeal is
dispensing justice, under your leadership.
My Lord, the dignity of lawyers is consistently being violated by you. We are treated harshly,
rudely, brusquely and nastily. We are not heard. We are not allowed to present our case. There is
little scope for advocacy. The words used in the Bar Room for Court No. 1 are the slaughter
house. We are cowed down by aggression from the Bench, led by you. All we receive from you
is arrogance, aggression and belligerence. You also throw away the file, while contemptuously
announcing This is dismissed.
Yet this aggression is not for everyone. When Mr. Sharifuddin Pirzada appears, your Lordships
demeanour and appearance is not just sugar and honey. You are obsequious to the point of
meekness. So apart from violating our dignity, which the constitution commands to be
inviolable, we suffer discrimination in your court.
I am not raising the issue of verbal onslaughts and threats to Police Officers and other Civil
Servants, who have the misfortune to be summoned, degraded and reminded that This is the
Supreme Court.
The way in which My Lord conducts proceedings is not conducive to the process of justice. In
fact, it obstructs due process and constitutes contempt of the Supreme Court itself.
I am pained at the wide publicity to cases taken up by My Lord in the Supreme Court under the
banner of Fundamental Rights. The proceedings before the Supreme Court can conveniently and
easily be referred to the District and Sessions Judges. I am further pained by the media coverage
of the Supreme Court on the recovery of a female. In the bar room, this is referred to as a Media
Circus.
My Lord, this communication may anger you and you are in any case prone to get angry in a
flash, but do reflect upon it. Perhaps you are not cognizant of what your brother judges feel and
say about you.
My Lord, before a rebellion arises among your brother judges (as in the case of Mr Justice
Sajjad Ali Shah), before the Bar stands up collectively and before the entire matter is placed
before the Supreme Judicial Council, there may be time to change and make amends.
I hope you have the wisdom and courage to make these amends and restore serenity, calm,
compassion, patience and justice tempered with mercy to my Supreme Court.

My Lord, we all live in the womb of time and are judged, both by the present and by history. The
judgement about you, being rendered in the present, is adverse in the extreme.

Yours faithfully,
Naeem Bokhari
Advocate
Supreme Court of Pakistan