SPEECH SPEECH BY MR. JUSTICE INAMULLAH KHAN Chief Justice of West Pakistan I hops the house will share with me the feeling that we have listened to a very interesting and illuminating talk by Mr. Justice Anwarul Haq on the subject of Rule of Law I am grateful to the Muslim Educational Conference for having asked me to preside at this talk. The Rule of Law is no longer a phrase of uncertain meaning. It has well-established concepts in a free society, as it pervades the entire administration of justice as a living force in all the civilized and advanced countries of the world. Undoubtedly it has a great practical importance in the life of every human being and the day to day life of the community as a whole. It has several ramifications to which Mr. Haq has made instructive references. I will only content myself with a brief mention of three of the essential ingredients of the Rule of Law recognised and over for the healthy growth of a developing society they are :-- (1) The Supremacy of the Law and respect for Law; (1) The independence of the Judiciary, and (3) An organized Bar. These have come to my mind almost instinctively because I have myself been nurtured in the traditions of the supremacy of the law ever since I adopted the career of a lawyer and both at the Bar and after my elevation to the Bench I have striven humbly in my own way to uphold the supremacy of the law to help in the organization of the Bar and to maintain the independence of the Judiciary. May I say that without all these three elements existing side by side, the first by a collective community effort and the last two by a zealous co‑operative effort between the Bench and the Bar, the Rule of Law would just be an empty 'phrase. The Bar Council Act, recently enacted, provides a great opportunity to the legal profession in this country to organise itself into a respectable and a useful profession as an autonomus body to redeem its reputation and to play a constructive role in harmonising the society and contributing to its welfare. . As sentinels of law, it is their duty not only to keep on constantly examining the effect of the laws on the society but to see that the Rule of Law permeates every branch of the law, civil criminal and administrative. The independence of the Judiciary is the bulwark of the Rule of Law in a democratic society. It is the main pillar of strength for basic democratic values of justice and fairplay, providing solace and confidence that justice will be done between rich and poor, all and sundry, regardless of their status. If that institutional faith is impaired in any manner in the independence of the Judiciary, the whole structure of the democratic society is bound to fall like a house of cards. We in Pakistan have adopted as our ideology Islamic Social Justice and I maintain that Rule of Law has always been and is an, abiding principle of Islamic polity. We have glorious instances in Islamic history of the highest and the mightiest being summoned to the Court of the Qazi and to submit to his dictates as ordained by law without any demur or hesitation. As you are well aware, Rule of Law predicates equality, human fellowship and individual dignity, and these, to my mind, are the quint‑essence of Islam. Supremacy of Law is an inseparable compliment of Islamic polity. Respect for law in free democratic society must be practised as a virtue, not for fear of punishment but in fulfilment of the obligations of loyal citizenship, to create harmony and to derive pleasure from a sense of loyal citizenship to a society where equality before law and fraternity furnish the main springs for public activity. Let all of us, whatever our station in life, strive for the achievement of higher human values which, of necessity, lead ultimately to the golden temple of the Rule of Law.