Justice AR Cornelius: Services and Contributions to the Justice System of Pakistan
CII, IPS jointly hold seminar to commemorate Justice AR Cornelius
Calling Justice AR Cornelius a symbol of integrity, the speakers at a seminar held to commemorate him urged law practitioners to study, learn and follow the example of the former chief justice.
They were speaking at the seminar titled ‘Justice AR Cornelius: Services and Contributions to the Justice System of Pakistan’ which was co-organized by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Islamabad and the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII)’ on December 28, 2018, following his 27th anniversary, which was observed very recently.
The seminar was addressed by Barrister Mohammad Farogh Naseem, federal minister for Law and Justice, as a chief guest, whereas other important speakers present on the occasion included Raja Zafar ul Haq, leader of opposition, Hamid Khan Advocate, Amanullah Kanrani Advocate, president, Supreme Court Bar Association, Dr Qibla Ayaz, chairman, CII, DG-IPS Khalid Rahman, Dr Anis Ahmad, vice chancellor, Riphah International University, Dr Ikram ul Haq, secretary, CII, and Prof Dr Shahzad Iqbal Sham, senior research associate at IPS.
Raja Zafar ul Haq said that he holds high regard for the people who rose to distinguished ranks on the back of their integrity and hard-work, and Justice AR Cornelius was certainly one of them. He said that the former chief justice was an original thinker, who despite being a catholic Christian himself, studied Islam in depth and advocated to follow its guidelines in the country’s constitution.
Speaking of the late chief justice’s legacy, Dr Qibla Ayaz said that AR Cornelius was a true patriot and had deep personality which needed to explored and studied. He said that the former chief justice was a staunch supporter of shaping the countries systems and constitutions as per the teachings of Islam.
Dr Anis pointed that Justice Cornelius referred himself as a ‘Constitutional Muslim’ who in fact was highly committed to the ideology of Pakistan and strived to follow the laws of Shariah that he found very much in line with the natural laws.
Talking about various shortcomings and inconsistencies that were present in the justice system of Pakistan, Advocate Hamid Khan was of the view that many of the prevailing judicial issues could be dealt by adopting the values practiced by the chief justice, such as uprightness and giving respect to everyone without any discrimination, as well as by trying to reform the state’s judicial systems as per his insightful recommendations.
The advocate said that Justice Cornelius was always favored the rights of people and many provisions and interpretations that we find in the laws today were made by Justice AR Cornelius himself.
DG-IPS Khalid Rahman finally concluded the session stressing on the importance of remembering the services and contributions of personalities like Justice AR Cornelius and following their examples with a view to bring improvement to our individual as well societal lives.
