Do the right thing

By Kamran Shafi

SO where’s the problem? You want to get rid of about five dozen what you consider ‘troublesome judges’ including the chief justice, and elevate your buddies’ buddies in their stead?

All you’ve got to do is to seek an appointment with the chief of army staff, go see him at his pleasure, be very nice to him and ask him politely like the good boy (or girl) you are, and abracadabra! Where’s the problem?

He will, at his pleasure, declare emergency in the country; suspend the Constitution; forcibly evict the unwanted judges and lock them up in their residences along with their families; oversee the swearing-in of the new judges, and then give the president of the country, probably himself considering the precedent set by the Commando, the authority to lift the emergency. The president will do so in short order and life will go on as theretofore. So where’s the problem?

No problem at all, sirs, none whatsoever. Is this why we see the shenanigans we see: the ‘elected’ government cosying up to the establishment; much bonhomie and camaraderie as our various Guderians and Rommels are feted by the elected prime minister in the salubrious environs of Islamabad the Beautiful? The sounds of music and singing wafting through the cool of the evening, even reaching the dark hovels of the desperately poor, barely a kilometre from the PM’s palace’s backside?

This is good and well as my friend Ashraf Khan Afridi used to say, keeping everyone and Charlie’s aunt happy, never forgetting Her Excellency the US ambassador who is keeping close tabs on what goes on in the Land of the Pure. Why, she even deigned to call on Asif Zardari at his own residence instead of summoning him to her deputy’s villa as heretofore. How delighted must Her Excellency be with what’s going on!

As more proof that all is well in the Citadel of Islam for them, yet again have the Americans called for an independent judiciary in Pakistan whilst quite absurdly saying, again, that the restoration of the sacked judges is an internal matter for Pakistanis to decide. And making it clear that come what may the American administration is adamant that the judges, particularly My Lord the Chief Justice, are not restored.

Why else would she herself be going around making offers to his friends to get him to accept various jobs such as judge of the International Court of Justice; such as Pakistan’s ambassador to wherever? Since when did the plenipotentiary of the United States of America become an employment exchange working on behalf of a Pakistani dictator?

Yet again, the Americans, those great champions of democracy and freedom and equal rights for all, refuse to accept that the actions that the Commando took on November 2 were so unconstitutional and so illegal that they would have shaken the very foundations of a country less resilient, one less inured to shocks than the Land of the Pure. Yet again, they continue to help him destabilise the elected coalition government by repeated and highly visible statements and more statements in his favour.

Not to be left behind, and as if on cue from his tight buddies, the Commando cooks his witches’ brew, summoning the two stalwarts of the House of Zahoor just as soon as there was a sort of deadlock between the PPP and the PML-N on the judges’ restoration issue, and egging them on to jump onto the PPP bandwagon just as soon as the N left the cabinet.

None of the above is any good. But let’s leave the shenanigans of the dictator who clings to the President’s Lodge formerly Army House, for dictators will do as dictators do, and look closer to home. How good is the PPP’s vacillating and shifting stand on the restoration of the judiciary to the position of November 2, 2007? How right is it for its leader to say most nonchalantly that the Bhurban Accord was merely a political statement, not a hadith. Meaning what, sir? That it is quite alright to renege on political promises? That they are made to be broken?

What message is the leader of Pakistan’s largest political party, a great national asset, a party that is popular and has a following in all the provinces of this hapless land, sending out? That the People’s Party is an unreliable party that does not mean what it says, that its leaders say what they want at a particular time to fool other people for temporary gains? No sirs, not good at all.

While on the subject of the People’s Party let’s look elsewhere too: Makhdoom Amin Fahim certainly overdid his bid to become prime minister many times over, even saying uncomfortable things not only in the press but in parliament too. But it is time to make up with him as one who has stuck by the party through thick and thin. It is good to hear that the leadership’s contacts with him are ongoing and friendly.

Similarly for Aitzaz, who too has over the years fought a valiant battle not only for his own party, but also for the illegally and cruelly sacked judiciary. If anything, his spearheading the movement for the restoration of the judges and his brilliant handling of the case in court earned the party plaudits too. I have been closely linked to the movement to restore the judges and often came into contact with him. Not once have I heard him say anything detrimental to his party. And please, he has nothing to do with what I write here: I have not met or spoken to Aitzaz in at least three months.

In the end, for those who insist on retaining the PCO judges: they will far outnumber those who will be reinstated. The Commando’s friends have leaked the following through a rather large organ coming out of Lahore: “The sources said the president was likely to agree to a proposal to dilute his discretionary powers to dissolve the assemblies. However, they said Article 58-(2)(b) would stay.”

Specifically: “The president’s powers to use Article 58-(2)(b) would be made stringently subject to the approval of the SC and some guidelines may also be recommended for the apex court in case such a situation develops,” the sources said.

Well, what if judges beholden to the Commando for his illegal and unconstitutional steps are in a majority? What then? Just do the right thing! Right the grievous wrong done to our Constitution. Otherwise the country will simply implode.

PS. It is scandalous that bye-elections are being postponed for two whole months just because the Frontier chief secretary says that the law and order situation is bad. Well, was it ‘good’ when the general elections were held? Is this another conspiracy to derail democracy by keeping the leadership of the PML-N out of politics? Will the PPP now stop being cute and isolate the Commando before it gets ‘sorted out’ in its turn? Beware!

kshafi1@yahoo.co.uk