Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry asked returning officers on Sunday to render their duties without being influenced.
Addressing the district returning officers, the returning officers and the assistant returning officers from eight districts on Sunday, the CJP said their role was of paramount importance for the upcoming elections to be free, fair and transparent according to law. “You should meet the expectation of the public in general and the judiciary in particular. Utilise all your abilities to ensure transparent election in the country”, he said.
One DRO said in 2009 the judicial policy making committee had decided that the judiciary would not involve itself in election process but now suddenly it had indulged itself. The SC registrar Faqir Muhammad Khokhar said the NJPMC took this decision in the supreme national interest after a formal request from the Election Commission of Pakistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 8th, 2013.