Adil Najam
The way that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was removed was bad enough. But what has happened since then is even more disturbing.
The Chief Justice removed. Media being muzzled. Lawyers protesting beaten up.
One can debate whether Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry should have been removed or not, or even whether the way he was removed was appropriate or not. But there is no question that the way the government is dealing with this issue is shameful, distressing, and dangerous.
The shamefulness is obvious in these pictures; just as it was when a young man’s shalwar was taken off as he protested ‘disappearances’ some months ago. It is distressing because it demonstrates the sanctity of our most important institutions - the judiciary and the media - is under stress. It is dangerous because if one keeps slipping down this road then it is not merely the future of this government but that of the entire country that will be at stake.
Whether the lawyers here instigated the violence or not, I do not know. They very possibly did, and that is itself disturbing. But that is not the point. The question is how a society and a state deals with dissent and protest. Once again, the answer is: “Shamefully.”
I do not know who is advising the government on all of this. I just pray that someone is. I hope there is someone who stands up and says:
“Don’t do this.
Please don’t do this.
This is not good for you.
This is not good for the country.
This cannot be good for anyone.
Please - for God’s sake - STOP!”
I wish I had something more profound to say right now. But as I stare at these pictures and this video clip, I hold my head in shame; I am distressed; and I ponder on the dangers before us.
All I can think of right now is: “Allah khair karey!”
(Also see a BBC video report here. All pictures above from BBC website; video from GEO News).ÂÂ
I think Sheikh Rashid would have responded the same way as Durrani, they are all cut from the same clothe.
Critic and MQ:
Points well made and taken.
Vaissay I am just wondering what kind of things Shiekh Rasheed would have said if he were the disinformation minister. Would be interesting if they invite him on one of their TV talkshows to discuss this.
Aqil,
I think the issue of sitting in a politican’s car was explained by Aitzaz Ahsan and others on a TV show. In the morning while going to the Court the CJ refused to sit in a government car because he was so cut up with the government for denying him access to telephone and TV in the house as well as to newspapers and his official cars. Therefore, he decided to walk to the Supreme Court along with his wife — a walking distance from his house. Instead, the officials tried to physically force him into the car and tore up his jacket in the process.
On the way back from the court, Aitizaz Ahsan was escorting him back but, he said, there was no way his car could have made through the crowd. So, he spotted his friend, an PPP MNA, and asked him if had a 4-wheel. He did and fetched it, in which the CJ and lawyers rode back. Ahsan said, the CJ probably didn’t even know whose car was it. So, I don’t see it as a big deal.
Incidentally, “Durr Fitte” has termed the CJ’s wish to walk to the court as an effort to start a “long march”.
Doesn’t open for me, site unavailable. Can you upload the image somewhere? Thanks.
The image of the CJP being manhandled and pushed in the car is on the nation website.
Hey Aqil,
I agree with you but please consider this. The CJP has been through hell for the last 4 days (held in house arrest, denied any access to information, pressurized by government bigwigs, mentally tortured and finally manhandled in front of his family.
I mean if any of us was in his shoes, sitting in a politicians car would be the least of our worries. So I think we should not worry about that issue. Lets just pray that he is reinstated as that is the best possible solution for this crises.
However, on a general note I agree with you that there should be amendments for improving the system.
The last line above should read:
“But I am not very hopeful that these questions will be debated enough.”
(addition of the word “enough”)
It has been pointed out in the media that very few judges have faced accountability through this process. What I mean above is that I am not hopeful for these questions to get enough attention to raise the level of discussion to debating possible amendments aimed at improving the system.
This from today’s The News, March 14, 2007
Editorial
A time to step back
The nation finds itself in a singularly unenviable position today. A lot can be debated on who is behind things coming to where they have. For instance, the footage shown on television of dozens of Islamabad police constables literally trying to herd ’suspended’ Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry into a waiting car so that he does not walk to the Supreme Court building. Or the uncalled for and unprovoked lathi-charge by the police on a group of lawyers holding a peaceful protest in Lahore on March 12. And as if opening a front with the lawyers’ community was not enough, the government â€â€? or certainly the hawks in it â€â€? seem to have decided that the media and the press must be taken head on as well with reports that at least two private TV channels were rebuked by the government for showing footage of policemen attacking the Lahore rally and of PPP Senatar Latif Khosa bleeding profusely from the head after being hit by a police lathi. On the same day that this happened, it was reported that the state’s electronic media regulator warned two private channels to stop relaying footage of policemen beating up the lawyers at the Lahore rally. A petition has also been filed by a lawyer with the Lahore High Court pleading the latter to direct the electronic media regulator to order private TV channels not to show footage that compromises the national interest or is prejudicial to the maintenance of law and order.
Unfortunately, it is seems that government in this country have not learnt a thing from the past. Would the heavens have fallen if Justice Chaudhry was allowed to walk on foot? Surely, those at the helm of affairs do understand that this overbearing treatment of him and his family has elevated the status of the ’suspended’ chief justice over and above what even the government could have ever imagined. It’s almost as if he is being made a hero in the eyes of ordinary Pakistanis and the more that perception grows (and it is), the greater will be the problems for the government. As for the attack on the lawyers in Lahore, it was unjust and blame for that lies completely with the Punjab government, especially since it was entirely unprovoked with the police initiating it on a group of lawyers exercising their right to demonstrate peacefully.
The opening of these new fronts is only going to exacerbate the situation. Often, in times like this, events have or acquire a momentum of their own and then things begin to get out of control â€â€? even of the government. One hopes that that stage has not been reached where this kind of situation arises. Censoring the media does not help and is not even possible in today’s world â€â€? TV channels may be barred but people are not fools and there are many other ways such as the Internet and the new rage, blogs, of disseminating information (after all, SMS messages sent by one of Justice Iftikhar’s children and an email sent purportedly by him have figured in how ordinary people got to know of what was going on). Surely, all this cannot be blocked and censored â€â€? and if it is, Pakistan will become a laughing stock in front of the entire world and the claim of ‘real democracy’ will become a joke unto itself.
If the government cannot withdraw the petition filed against Justice Chaudhry with the Supreme Judicial Council, it must at the very least allow him unhindered access to go wherever he wishes and meet whomever he wants. Also, the lawyers are attacking â€â€? as they have said quite rightly â€â€? not because it is about a single senior judge but because the shabby manner in which the ’suspended’ chief justice has been treated (those government spokesmen, many of them ministers, who say that this is not the case and that he is a free man should instead see the TV footage of hordes of policemen literally preventing Justice Iftikhar from even walking in a straight line on Tuesday afternoon) and they equate it with an undiluted attack on the judiciary. This view is shared by most Pakistanis as well â€â€? opposition to what the government is doing cuts across class, region, ethnic and religious lines with conservatives, liberals, the poor, the rich and those from the middle classes, everyone expressing extreme disapproval of the government’s actions and rallying to Justice Iftikhar’s defence. There is still time for the government to step back and let the law take its own course. After all, that’s what one keeps hearing from government spokesmen â€â€? that the matter is now before the judges that make up the SJC.