Campaign initiated to malign judiciary, says CJP Khosa on eve of retirement.

Outgoing Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa on Friday said a malicious campaign has been initiated against the judiciary but the truth shall finally prevail.

Khosa made these remarks in a gathering before officially addressing a full-court reference organised at the Supreme Court on the eve of his retirement, just a day after a special court released the detailed verdict in the high treason case against former dictator General retired Pervez Musharraf.

The verdict by the special court, which handed Musharraf the death penalty for his actions of imposing emergency in the country on November 3, 2007, has been severely criticised by the government and the military's media wing as an 'attack on the institution of army'.

Read more: Army, govt roast judge over grisly rider in Musharraf ruling

Addressing the gathering later, the top judge said, "I always did what I thought was right and was worth doing."

"I gave my hundred per cent to the job, tried to perform beyond the call of duty, never raised my voice, spoke mainly through my pen, never delayed a judgment unduly and after giving the best years of my life to this public service, I lay down my robes today with a conscience which is clear as crystal."

Justice Khosa, who is set to retire today at midnight, will end a career in the judiciary spanning almost two decades. Justice Gulzar Ahmed will take oath tomorrow as the 27th chief justice of Pakistan.

The outgoing chief justice said that he had always "strived to live up to my oath of office and have tried to dispense justice according to law and without fear or favour, affection or ill-will".

"It is not for me to lay any claim on correctness of my legal opinions but I only hope that posterity may judge me with kindness and may appreciate the sincerity of the efforts made," he added.

He went on to list the measures he took in order to bring reforms in the judiciary which include the launch of e-courts, online Supreme Court database, revamping of the SC website as well as launch of a mobile application. He pointed out that a backlog of pending criminal appeals was wiped out and the practice of asking for adjournments was "effectively discouraged".

A screenshot of Fahmida Riaz's poem Faiz Kehtey that Justice Khosa recited at the end of his farewell speech. - DawnNewsTV

"An all out effort was made to put our own house in order with an approach focusing mainly on improving the justice delivery system," he said, adding that during his tenure...