Jurists can help foster peace between India, Pakistan: Iftikhar Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: India and Pakistan have been unable to maintain normal neighbourly relations since their inception and jurists from both sides can help foster peaceful interaction that leads to "real time trust and harmony", Pakistan's Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has said.

Many issues have "dogged" the India-Pakistan relationship but "there is no issue in the world which cannot be resolved through peaceful negotiation", Chaudhry said during an interaction yesterday with a visiting delegation of over a hundred Indian lawyers.

"Unfortunately, both India and Pakistan have not been able to maintain normal neighborly relations since their inception...jurists, being the most law-knowing and mature people, can play their role in not only creating the environment for peaceful interaction between the two neighbours but also ensuring that such interaction is translated into real time trust and harmony," the Chief Justice said.

The judiciary in both countries have a "common cultural, social and colonial background, draw inspiration from the same source of jurisprudence and follow the democratic principles of rule of law and supremacy of the constitution", he remarked.

"Given the peculiar evolution of democratic institutions in our two countries, we can learn from each other's jurisprudence. The Supreme Court of India has rendered unprecedented benchmark judgments in the field of public interest litigation," said Chaudhry, who has been using the court's suo motu powers for a drive against corruption that has been criticised by some legal experts.