Supreme Court of Pakistan has asked federal government to remove Dr. Zafar Mirza from his post as Special Assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan on National Health services. The
The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) stated they were not contented with Dr. Mirza’s performance about coronavirus situation in country.
However, no written orders were issued only verbal orders were given during an ongoing hearing concerning the government’s response to the coronavirus.
Dr. Zafarullah Mirza is a Pakistani politician who currently serves as a Special Assistant for Health and was appointed by Prime Minister Imran Khan. He is also the Director of Health System Development at the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean.
Pakistanis Reacting to Supreme Court’s Order Regarding Dr. Zafar Mirza
The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmad reportedly stated that they were not satisfied with Dr. Mirza’s performance. The verdict brought chaos on social media.
An Example of Judicial Activism?
Michael Kugelman Deputy director of Asia program called the orders by Supreme Court to remove Dr Zafar mirza an act of activist judiciary of past year (something which was prominent particularly in the era of ex-Chief Justice Saqib Nisar.
Salman Masood Pakistan Correspondent to The New York Times opined that the orders of Chief Justice of Pakistan to remove Dr. Mira was the first casualty of judicial activism in the current coronavirus pandemic
Journalist & Author Nasim Zehra quoted Attorney General Statement that the removal of Dr. Zafar Mirza at this time may bring crisis.
Columnist Mehr Tarar stated that the meddling of judiciary in matters has no business to supervise or dominate when national unity was of utmost importance.
Reporter Benazir Shah opined that the Chief Justice of Pakistan’s judgment on Dr. Zafar Mirza performance was unfair
Moeed Pirzada the CEO and Editor Global Village Space criticized the CJP by pointing towards the UK and US current situation. He also stressed on how their judiciary was not playing any role in fixing scientific challenges
Ammar Rashid, a left wing activist also raised his voice against Supreme Court’s decision. He called it was a pure insanity in the middle of pandemic which was criminally recklessness.
Writer Reema Omer criticized Supreme Court’s decision termed it ironic since court was now lecturing others over “unsatisfactory” performance, while its own made “directions” clearly fell outside its domain
They are perceiving this meddling in executive affairs was unnecessary as the nation was in the middle of a pandemic.
Lawyer Asad Jamal who is popular for fighting the cases of human rights activisits tweeted that it was beyond the court’s constitutional mandate and Supreme Court should not interfere in the domain of the executive and parliament.
People pointed toward the incident when lawyers attacked The Punjab Institute of Cardiology. They demanded government to arrest those lawyers. The decision by Supreme Court on the removal of Dr. Zafar Mirza received severe backlash
Coronavirus has killed more than 90 people and infected more than 5 thousand people in Pakistan. The decision like this would divert the attention from serious issues and even make it difficult for the current administration to focus on their actual task.
Is this Equal to Meddling in Politics?
Some considered that the Chief Justice was acting like an attention seeker.
Supreme Court has started playing politics in this time of crises.
https://twitter.com/maryamacca/status/1249624730640027648
If the performance is the criterion some people think that Chief Justice should have to look on his own portfolio since the number of pending cases was almost 2 million.
The decision by Supreme Court is thought to be ridiculous since Zafar Mirza’s order of removal has come in an emergency situation.
It seems that decision has only tarnished the court’s image as people don’t seem to agree with the verdict. Instead they are criticizing it.
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