Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan, and Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa made up the three-person panel that heard the matter at the highest court.
The supreme court was given assurances by the legal authorities of the federal and all four province governments that it would carry out the 2023 ruling that forbade private publicity on development projects.
Both the federal and provincial governments were summoned to provide testimonies under oath by the highest court.
All provinces in Pakistan, according to the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), have come together to support personal exposure.
Regarding Sindh’s law enforcement figure, the court asked. As Sindh’s attorney stated to the court, “There are 80 law officers in Sindh.” “An 80-strong law enforcement battalion is present in Sindh, but Islamabad has never had a permanent law enforcement officer,” stated the CJP.
18 law officers serve in Balochistan, 40 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 86 in Punjab, according to information provided to the court by provincial law officers.
The top justice remarked, “The most populous province, Punjab, has 86 law enforcement officers, while Sindh has 80.”
The prosecutor for the Punjab government informed the judge that the province will reduce its bar of 86 lawyers to 66.
“40 million rupees are paid to law officers of Sindh from the pockets of the people of the province because each law officer in the province receives a salary of Rs. five lac every month,” the CJP stated.
Sindh’s law enforcement officials don’t provide the court with superior support. Despite having poor sound quality, they appear before the court via video link,” the chief judge stated.
He asked, “What is the crime of the poor people? We don’t want to get involved in government matters.”
Strong and vibrant democracy is what we want to see, according to CJP.
“What makes getting personal publicity more important than projects that serve the public interest?” he questioned. In regards to personal publicity, even ardent political rivals have reached a consensus, according to CJP.
For two weeks, the bench postponed the case’s continued hearing.
