CJ lauds parliament for correcting historic wrong

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on Tuesday praised the parliament for undoing a wrong done by the legislature in 1985 (through a constitutional amendment) when it removed the word ‘freely’ from a clause of the Objectives Resolution that upheld the minorities’ right to practice their religion.

“Nobody has the right to tamper with the basic document,” the chief justice observed. He is heading a 17-judge full court hearing petitions against certain clauses of the 18th Amendment, including the limits of parliament’s right to amend the Constitution.

“It is strange that not even a single member in the 1985 National Assembly noticed the mistake and allowed the 8th Amendment to pass just like that,” the chief justice observed.