Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Wednesday apologised over his recent remarks where he had compared the length of a good speech to a woman’s skirt.

“I apologise in case anyone got hurt by my remarks where I had compared the length of a good speech to a woman’s skirt,” the chief justice said, and clarified that his intention was not to hurt the feelings of anyone and that he used the quote just as a reference.

Speaking at a judicial conference in Karachi on January 13, 2018, the chief justice had said, “Don’t think I have written a long speech. I was always told that a good speech should be like a woman’s skirt: not too long that one loses interest and neither too short that it doesn’t cover the subject’. So I will be adhering to that principle.”

The chief justice said half of our population consists of women. He said attempts were made at social media to make his remarks an issue, which was deplorable.

The quote, originally attributed to former UK prime minister Sir Winston Churchill, drew criticism on social media as well as from the Women Lawyers’ Association and the Women Action Forum.

Meanwhile, a press statement issued by the Supreme Court said that recently in a speech at Karachi, the CJP made some remarks which were perceived as gender sensitive by certain sections of the society. “Today in open court, the CJP observed that if the remarks had hurt the feelings of women in general and female litigators and litigants in particular, he deeply regretted the same,” the statement said.

The CJP observed that the Supreme Court was conscious of its duties and will uphold the rights of women as well as alleviate their grievances.

Published in Daily Times, January 25^th 2018.