INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
top judge but was denied opportunity because of his disability.CJP Nisar directed Lahore High Court Chief Justice Justice Muhammad Yawar Ali
to review the case of Yousaf Saleem and interview him.According to a news story published in this newspaper, Yousaf, a gold medalist from
the Punjab University stood first in the exam for civil judge but failed in the interview only because he was blind.He possessed all the
qualifications of an eligible candidate prescribed in the job advertisement: law degree from a recognised university, two-year experience as
a practicing lawyer, and age between 22 and 35 years
If this advertisement is taken as a guide, being disable was not a disqualification
Instead, three percent quota was reserved for them.Also the fact remains that the examination committee was aware of his disability well
before the written test.A computer-based exam was arranged for him the way it is being done for blind candidates in the CSS exam since
As many as 300 candidates sat the exam; 21 of them could pass and he stood first.However, what followed in the interview sank him in despair
Most of the questions asked to him revolved around his visual disability which was inferred as a major hurdle to perform as a judge.He was
asked in the beginning about his major area of legal practice
Saleem said he was on the civil side
Right now, he is working as assistant director (legal) in a department of Punjab Government
But most of the questions were about criminal side and how a visually impaired judge like him would deal with them.The panel, for example,
list of witnesses", "how will you assess the situation on the documents" etc.Yousaf said he told the panel that he would take assistance
from his staff where visual disability becomes a hurdle and also that criminal cases are not the only one a judge has to deal with
There are family courts, banking courts, rent courts and alternative dispute resolution forums etc
where he could be engaged in case his disability was a hurdle to deal with criminal cases
Yousaf was nevertheless hoping against hope but his dreams were dashed on April 18 when the list of successful candidates was displayed on
the website.This topper of the written test was missing from the list
He has not given up yet hoping Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar will take notice of this discrimination.Son of a chartered
accountant, Yousaf is blind by birth
He has four sisters and two of them are also blind
None of them has accepted disability as a fate and rather proved worth through the ability they possess.Saima Saleem, the first blind person
who did CSS in 2007, is his sister
A gold medalist in English from Kinnaird College, Saima had scored the sixth position and opted for the Foreign Service.She was posted to
the Pakistan UN missions in Geneva and New York
Right now, she is in the Prime Minister Secretariat working as deputy secretary
Yousaf is the youngest among siblings.If his case is reviewed, he will be the first blind judge in Pakistan, not in the world though
Visually impaired judges in other countries motivated Yousaf to dream like them.Justice Zakaria Mohammed Yacoob was the judge of the
Constitutional Court of South Africa from 1998-2013; Richard Conway Casey was judge of the United States District Court for the Southern
serving in London); Richard Teitelman is a judge in Missouri; David Tatel sits on a federal appeals court in Washington D.C.; Richard
Bernstein is a judge of the Michigan Supreme Court; T Chakkaravarthy is a judge in Tamil Nadu (India); and Brahmananda Sharma is a civil
judge in Ajmer District (India), among others.Yousaf has though lost vision, he has not lost sight of his dreams
Like Martin Luther King, he has a dream that when he would rise to the summit of Supreme Court, people like him will be judged by their
qualifications and personal attributes and not by how many functional limbs do they possess.
