Message to the Newly Elevated Additional Judges of Peshawar High Court

MESSAGE TO THE NEWLY ELEVATED ADDITIONAL JUDGES OF PESHAWAR HIGH COURT MESSAGE TO THE NEWLY ELEVATED ADDITIONAL JUDGES OF PESHAWAR HIGH COURT By Mr. Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Chief Justice, Peshawar High Court [2-8-2011] The slot you have been selected for is not a bed of roses. Nor it is a place to relax and rejoice on. It may lend enchantment to the view from a distance but when you are in it, it is a test, a trial, a tribulation you face day in and day out. If you pass through these, you go up and up not only in your own eyes but also in the eyes of others. However, when it is otherwise you sink and stoop to a bottomless pit where you are despised and detested by all those who are around you. It is quite easy to do justice between two equally poor or equally rich persons. Your metal is tested only when you decide a lis between a poor and a rich notwithstanding the former is represented by a poor and mediocre lawyer and the latter is represented by a lawyer who is renowned and resourceful. Let it be justness of the cause, which should be the predominant consideration for deciding the lis regardless altogether of their poverty or riches. Your decision in such cases proves 'where you stand. Your position raises the expectations of your kith and kin who, more often than not, beguile you into believing that with this slot you can advance your personal and their interest. Their logic is quite enticing and so is the temptation. However, history bears a witness to the fact that those who followed such logic and succumbed to such temptation ultimately ruined themselves socially as well as spiritually. Guard yourself against such enticement and temptation if and when held out. This poor country despite scant resources offers you a handsome package over and above many other perks and privileges. This is more than sufficient to meet your needs even if you spend it with an air of extravagance. Therefore, you need not look to anybody for any favour lest the favour extended is used as a weapon to thwart the course of justice. It is meanness of the lowest order to use this position to advance your personal interest in any form either by approaching your colleague or a judicial officer in district judiciary or an executive officer in provincial or federal bureaucratic hierarchy. It is also an atrocity of the worst form to grant or refuse a relief after seeing the faces of litigants or their lawyers as neither of them is your master or overlord. Do not forget you are accountable to your Creator. He alone is your Master and Overlord. Your every act covert or overt is subject to reckoning and the law of requital here and in the life hereafter. Pride and arrogance are alien to the slot of administering justice. Its burden, which is heavy and backbreaking, invariably makes you humble. Work with grace and dignity while being on the bench. Hear the parties and their counsel with open and uninhibited mind. Never get weary by listening to the mass of details. Leave nothing unturned in exploring the truth. Fear of loss of face may not restrain you from admitting your mistake if and when it becomes manifest. Multitude of problems may not unnerve you in any situation. Consequences may not deter you from taking a decision, which is just, right and reasonable. There can be no shortcut to success. Courage, competence, honesty and hard work are the keys thereto. Pedantry or pretension being short lived cannot be a substitute for any of these virtues. You cannot be just in your decision unless you know the law. You cannot know the law unless you work hard. Competence is not a virtue, which can be had like a finished good from a shop. It can be acquired by constant, consistent and continuous hard work. Your elevation to the bench is really a challenge: Accept it with the totality of your soul and strength to prove your worth. Almighty Allah has given us a chance to save this crumbling society through the rule of law. If we fail to avail it, complete disaster shall be our inevitable lot. May Almighty Allah out of His infinite bounty help us achieve our cherished objective!