Balochistan HC wiped out: The News, Aug 1

ISLAMABAD: The Balochistan High Court (BHC) lost all of its five judges, including its chief justice, after the Supreme Court decision.

All the BHC judges, including Chief Justice Amanullah Yasinzai, Ahmed Khan Lashari, Akhtar Khan Malghani, Nadir Khan Durrani and Kailash Nath Kohli, were among those sent packing. As the Islamabad High Court (IHC) lost its very existence, four of its judges were deprived of their judicial status, while the remaining four judges will go back to their respective high courts from where they were inducted into the IHC.

The four justices who would stay on the bench are confirmed judges. They included justices M Bilal, Munir Paracha, Raja Saeed and Qilbe Hassan. Those who stood sacked were Intikhab Shah, Arshad Tabraiz, Amjad Iqbal Qureshi and Ramzan Chaudhry.

Senior lawyers said the appointment of a large number of judges to fill the vacancies falling vacant in the high courts would have to be geared up. Among these nominations, appointments for the BHC would have to be accorded top priority.

They said never in the history of the country such a large-scale purge had taken place in the superior judiciary. The number of judges who had to go home because of the 1996 judgment of the Supreme Court in the Al-Jihad Trust case, commonly known as the judges’ case, was much less as compared to the present tally.

The lawyers said dozens of new appointments in the superior judiciary would be made by President Zardari on the recommendations of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on proposals forwarded by the chief justices of the high courts. http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=23613