judiciary – My Bit for Change

Though the much awaited detailed verdict handed down by the seven-member bench in the contempt of court case against PM Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani fell short of the expectations of many, but the verdict has at least cleared the mist of confusion on the political horizon, putting the Prime Minister in the irreversible process of disqualification.

However, the PPP would be getting their planned design of lingering the legal course till final conclusion of the on-going legal battle is successfully executed, courtesy the lengthy and tedious legal process. But the detailed judgment in the contempt of court case had sealed the fate of the Prime Minister who would hardly avoid disqualification as member Parliament.But the Prime Minister’s “sacrifice” surely would buy some more breathing space for the ruling coalition to sail through the troubled waters by successfully presenting the fifth and final budget, which would be the only constitutional obligation to be met by the ruling coalition.

The decision of going in appeal against the judgment was already made by the PPP leadership, even much before the handing down of the short order of the court on April 26. Some senior party leader, who did not want to disclose their identity, said that the conviction of Prime Minister in the case was obvious and that was the reason they had already decided that they would exhaust all legal and constitutional remedies in the on-going battle with the superior judiciary.

Some insiders in the party said that the legal brains of the party would file appeal against the verdict in the case for which right now the court has not requisite strength to constitute a larger bench to take up the appeal. At present out of the nine available judges apart from the seven members who had convicted the Prime Minister in contempt of court case, three had expressed their inability to sit in the larger bench leaving the court with just six judges. So in given circumstances the court would be requiring at least two more ad hoc or additional judges to constitute a larger bench to take up the appeal of the Prime Minister.

The determination of the Prime Minister to go into appeal could be judged well from the fact that he did not even wait for landing of his plane in London and gave statement on-board his special plane that he would file appeal against the court judgment for which instructions had already been given to his counsel Barrister Ch. Aitzaz Ahsan.

Under the law, the Prime Minister could file an appeal against his conviction, which could ultimately lead to his disqualification as member of the Parliament, till May 26 as the 30-days time would be counted from the day of handing down of the short order by the court. In the meanwhile, the Supreme Court would initiate the legal process of getting the court order implemented by sending the copy of detailed judgment simultaneously to Speaker National Assembly and Chief Election Commissioner.

Speaker National Assembly, under the rules of business and procedure, is bound to forward the reference against Prime Minister to Chief Election Commissioner within 30 days period for action while the Chief Election Commissioner would have 90 days at maximum to de-notify him as member of the Parliament which would automatically remove him for the slot of Prime Minister.Pakistan People’s Party wants to have breathing space for another couple of months to successfully present the fifth and final budget and then the Prime Minister could even resign portraying that the PPP has great respect for the judiciary and try to mould the public opinion in their favour.

Anyone from the party would step in his shoes as Prime Minister to again defy the court’s direction in the NRO implementation case and could drag the matter till the holding of next elections and establishment of the caretaker set up. By the time they would successfully exhaust the premature campaigns being launched by some of the political parties with Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) as the forerunners. Political and legal analysts watching the situation were of the view that Mian Nawaz Sharif had made some hasty decision after the handing down of the short order of the apex court convicting the PM and should have waited till the detailed judgement. Similarly Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaf and Jamaat-I-Islami have to follow PML-N and as they were not prepared for it their shows in support of the superior judiciary were off-colour or they could not leave some marked impact, which would definitely have some sort of impact on the judiciary as well.

These analysts were of the view that contrary to the political players the judiciary was playing safe and were not in haste in getting their orders implemented and that was the reason the judges of the superior courts were adopting judicial restraint in their decision and handling of various cases. Even in the detailed judgment in the contempt of court case against Prime Minister the seven-member bench could have given some clear-cut direction to Chief Election Commissioner for disqualification of the Premier but the court had once again showed judicial restraint, leaving the matter of Prime Minister’s disqualification to be executed through the laid down legal and constitutional process.

The legal and constitutional experts are of the view that despite the provocative statements and sarcastic remarks coming from PPP leadership the Supreme Court of Pakistan has not taken any hostile posture against the rulers while dealing with cases of sensitive nature and adopted judicial restraint to avoid clash-like situation to save the institutions as well as the on-going political process.

With all this battle and political tug of war going on the masses remain an irrelevant entity, busy in sorting out load shedding, protesting in the streets, committing suicides, selling their children while the convicted Prime Minister is on a lavish and luxurious ‘official’ trip to UK with a big team on Tax Payers’ money representing a poor and war stricken nation.

When judiciary sleeps, the mob finds its own way of enforcing justice in the society … what other means do they have really? This has been happening for quite a while now and might happen more often in the future if nothing is done to ensure speedy justice. Otherwise, as they say, justice delayed is justice denied. With conviction rate of serious crime at around 5% – that too with conservative estimates – you have no trust in the system that the culprits who robbed you, who killed or raped your beloved, will not go scot free.

What choices are you left with then, (a) get robbed, killed, raped or humiliated (b) take law into your own hands and beat them, burn them, lynch them to the death … ?

Let us expand this a bit further and apply this scenario to a larger group. For example, what would you do if you were a political party that is being victimised? Why wouldn’t you pick up guns to protect your own interests when you know that’s the only way to do so? Why wouldn’t you react and create pain for those who have put their feet on your tail? Why wouldn’t you protest and bring the cities in your control to a halt when you know there is no one to safeguard your interests – irrespective of how unjust they might be. Why would you behave any differently?

If you were the police, why would you take action, when you know that the culprits will be freed soon, and when they are, they would test the sharpness of their knives on the throats of your sons and on the honour and dignity of your daughters, sisters and wives. What would you do when you know that it is not only your life but also the ones of your loved ones that are not safe, just because the judiciary let loose the beasts, which you have captured by putting your life at stake. Why would you bother?

Zooming out, if the trend grows then why would honest and sincere people join the police force? Why would anyone want to get killed for doing some good which ultimately is destined to go down the drain? We are not living in a perfect Islamic Society, where each individual fulfils his responsibility irrespective of the worldly consequences and aspires to be rewarded in the hereafter? How many people are out there with such a level of conviction, belief in Divine and fear of accountability in Hereafter? It is such a pity that in a society where everyone is there to serve his own desires and interests, you can’t even find a police force which does its duty with full conviction, just like we can’t find a judiciary which does its job justly.

Why then, shouldn’t we be called a hypocrite nation when a country founded in the name of Islam – the strongest advocate of implementing justice with an Iron fist; for the poor and the rich, the feeble and the powerful – is not able provide effective and speedy justice for its hypocrite citizens?

Chicken (judiciary) or egg (hypocrite citizen), which came first?

We all want our rights irrespective of whether we fulfil our responsibilities or not. We all, when taking on different roles like judiciary, law enforcement, media, government, political parties, civil societies, business community, etc. want all our rights and privileges while shamelessly ignoring the responsibilities entrusted on us by our respective roles. We conveniently forget the old adage – what goes around comes around. We all want to ride the ship, but don’t want to plug in the holes through which the water is seeping in, slowly sinking the ship and drowning the people on board. Those on the top deck (that’s you and me) are resting in relative comfort with their heads buried in the sand and pretending that everything is fine. It is only when the water reaches them that they realise, but by then it is already too late.

Society is a giant web of interconnected groups and the behaviour of any of these groups affects all. Judiciary cannot perform if the public doesn’t co-operate, the public cannot co-operate if the law enforcement doesn’t protect them and to complete the circle, the law enforcement cannot perform if the judiciary lets the criminals loose. The one common denominator among all is the citizen, who sometimes takes the role of judiciary, sometimes the law enforcement and at others, just the common man; yet in all cases behaving in a similar way, placing his selfish interest above everything else.

So what do we do? Perhaps educate the next generation. Develop them to become responsible citizens, sensitive to the needs of others, courageous enough to sacrifice their interests for the good of the society. Such empathetic behaviour can be inculcated, not through rhetoric, but through inspiration and role modelling, as behaviours are contagious and get transferred from a good role model to the observing student. Most people might think that where shall we get the number of people from to change the thinking of an entire generation.

This is where the key is: Never Give Up! If we can take one step forward to sooth the pain of even one individual, then we should; if we can make a small school with only a dozen students, whom we can inspire to become responsible citizens, then we should; if we can inculcate in the heart of one individual the fear of Allah and accountability in hereafter then we must not wait. Who knows that our one single initiative might start a chain reaction, which can prove to be a catalyst to change the nation one day? Who knows that our efforts might produce the next Allama Iqbal or Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (after discounting him for his misinterpretation of Quran and Sunnah). At least in the end, we can die with a clear conscience and without the regret of not doing anything when our nation needed us.

Tag: judiciary

PM conviction – the battle will go on!