Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Chief Justice, Peshawar High Court, To The Lawyers On 16th November, 2011 A Day Before His Elevation To The Supreme Court Of Pakistan

MESSAGE--JUSTICE EJAZ AFZAL KHAN, CHIEF JUSTICE, PESHAWAR HIGH COURT, TO THE LAWYERS ON 16TH NOVEMBER, 2011 A DAY BEFORE HIS ELEVATION TO THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN MESSAGE--JUSTICE EJAZ AFZAL KHAN, CHIEF JUSTICE, PESHAWAR HIGH COURT, TO THE LAWYERS ON 16TH NOVEMBER, 2011 A DAY BEFORE HIS ELEVATION TO THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN Chaos all around, corruption in every department of life and insecurity in every hut and house are predominant features of today. What is this, due to, who is responsible therefor and what is the antidote of this poison which is taking the nation to the shambles of death, is the questions which nag every thinking mind. Answers to these questions lie in our hearts and not in the books of philosophy or jurisprudence. Everynow and then we find ourselves in an arena, where our personal interest is pitched against the national interest. The dictate of our ruthless ego is that none is dearer than thou, grab whatever you can. The dictate of our conscience is that national interest is preferable over personal interest. But we, more often than not, prefer our personal interest. The moment, we prefer our personal interest over the national interest, we disseminate the seeds of discord and dissension. This happens every where in every department of life. We know, our kith and kin are not apt to hold the job, yet we prefer them over others who deserve by all means. Here lies the tragedy which lands us in trouble and turmoil at every step and at every stage. The strangest part of the story is that we suffer because of our own doings, yet we attribute our plight to the Heaven or those who are at the helm of affairs. We do not want to realize that all this is on account of our own acts of omission and commission. We stridently condemn others for doing certain things what we do ourselves with impunity. These, if analysed psychologically, are the characteristics of a psychopath who is always driven by his personal motives and whose goals are wholly satisfactory to himself. The Holy Quran cherishes the memory of those, who prefer others above themselves, though poverty becomes their lot. (59:9) 2. We condemn the culture of corruption but when we find ourselves in the sticky mud, we use it as a rope to climb out of it. Not only that, we use it as a ladder to attain positions, we do not deserve otherwise. All these ailments and sufferings can be treated if we prefer national interest over personal interest and learn not to like for others, what we do not like for ourselves. These lessons are hard to learn and hard to act upon, but teaching them, is all the more, harder, especially when the person teaching them is required to act upon them first. We do not find any person around who could do this by transcending his personal interest, be he a politician, a religious scholar or a professor of ethics, notwithstanding it was and is still within his reach. In this bleak scenario, it was the class of lawyers, which transcended its personal interest in March, 2007. It preferred national interest over personal interest. It starved, suffered; faced professional set backs and even sacrificed lives. The result is before all of us. It, in the first instance, shook and woke up a slumbering nation, inspired it with higher ideals, launched a nationwide movement and made the restoration of independent Judiciary an achievable objective which was hitherto impossible, unachievable and even unthinkable. This historic, un precedented and epoch-making achievement has raised the expectations of people. They once again look towards you for being led and achieving something far greater than you did in the past by transcending your personal interest. It would be in line with your dazzling past, if you advise your clients and assist the Court fairly and justly, even if, it brings you loss in terms of money. If you could do that, I am sure and sanguine; you would again emerge as national heroes.