Sixteen more judges of Sindh, NWFP and Lahore high courts took oaths under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) here on Sunday. Now the total number of judges of all four high courts, who took oath under PCO rose to 43, while only five judges of Supreme Court out of 19 have so far taken oath under PCO.
On Sunday, nine judges of Sindh High Court (SHC) including Mehmood Alam Rizvi, Azizullah Memon, Ali Sain Dino Metlo, Nadeem Azhar Siddiqui, Khwaja Naveed Ahmed, Khalid Qazi, Rana Muhammad Shamim, Abdul Rehman Farooq Pirzada and Moosa K Leghari took oath in a ceremony held at the Governor's House. Chief Justice Sindh High Court Justice Muhammad Afzal Soomro administered the oath. The total numbers of SHC judges, who took oath under PCO reached to 12 out of the total strength of 27.
Governor Sindh Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, provincial ministers, advisors and senior officials were present at the occasion. Meanwhile, according to a private TV channel the house of Former Chief Justice Sabih Uddin Ahmed was cordoned off by the police late Sunday night.
In Lahore, four new judges of the Lahore High Court took oath.
Chief Justice Lahore High Court Justice Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry administered the oath. The judges are Justice Abdul Shakoor Piracha, Justice Sardar Muhammad Aslam, Justice Sheikh Haakim Ali and Justice Syed Sajjad Hussain Shah. The total number of LHC judges who took oath under PCO reached to 17 out the total strength of 31 judges.
In Peshawar, three more judges of Peshawar High Court took-oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO). Justice Talat Qayyum Qureshi, Chief Justice of Peshawar High Court administered the oath. The new judges who took oath under PCO were Justice Muhammad Raza Khan, Justice Jehanzaib Rahim and Justice Raj Muhammad Khan.
The oath taking ceremony was held at the building of the Peshawar High Court and was attended by the senior judges and lawyers. The number of judges of Peshawar High Court, who took oath under Provisional Constitutional Order, has reached to nine.
Four judges of the PHC were not invited for oath taking. It may be mentioned here that Justice Ijazul Hassan, Justice Muhammad Qaim Jan Khan, Justice Muhammad Salim Khan, Justice Said Maroof Khan and Justice Hamid Farooq Durrani had already taken oath as judges of PHC on Saturday. It is to be mentioned here that all the judges of Balochistan High Court had already taken oath under the PCO on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Registrar Sindh High Court has informed the general public that the Chief Justice, High Court of Sindh (SHC) Karachi has ordered that litigant public shall enter the SHC premises subject to proof that their cases are fixed on November 5 in the Court as per daily cause list.
Learned advocates appearing in the Court will have to show their Bar Council Card to security personnel at the entry gate, said an official statement here on Sunday. Staff members of SHC will also have to show their service cards to the security personnel at the entry gate.