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Old Monday, March 19, 2012
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The prime minister and the SC
March 19th, 2012


Speaking on the occasion of the convocation of the Islamia University Bahawalpur, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani plumped for martyrdom rather than obedience to the edict of the Supreme Court demanding that he write a letter asking Switzerland to reopen graft cases against the chief of his party, President Asif Ali Zardari. He said he’d rather go to jail than write the letter which will be “a violation of the Constitution, which is treason and which carries the death sentence”. He made a further calculus: “If I don’t write, I will be convicted for contempt, the punishment for which is six months imprisonment”. The audience understood the calculus and shouted, “Don’t write the letter!”

Away from Bahawalpur, most people don’t think so. Lawyers and judicial experts think he should write the letter and put an end to his government’s stubborn pattern of flouting the authority of the Supreme Court. Even the lawyer, who defends him in the contempt case at the Supreme Court once thought that he should have written the letter, stating that the earlier letter calling off the Swiss case was hereby withdrawn. Somehow, the PPP and its leader were certain that once the letter was written, the proceedings in Switzerland would restart and lead to conviction of President Zardari for money laundering. The Swiss officials say that if President Zardari enjoys immunity from litigation in Pakistan, he would be exempted in Switzerland, too. That’s where the rub is.

It will ultimately depend on what the Supreme Court has to say about the immunity of the president under the Constitution. Judging from the obiter dicta of the Honourable Court it seems that it has a different interpretation of the constitutional article saying that a president can’t be impugned. One erstwhile judge of the Court likely unveiled the mind of the Court when he said the matter of reference to the Swiss government was in the nature of civil law not covered by the said article of the Constitution. Whatever may be the view of the layman, the fact is that the word of the Supreme Court is final and has to be obeyed if the country’s legal order is to survive. Yet, professional view in favour of the Court is challenged by a section of the lawyers practising at the apex court.

The argument centres on the supremacy of parliament and the right of review of the Supreme Court. In a sense, parliament is supreme because it can make laws and abrogate them and even prevent the judiciary from handing down a verdict by pre-emptively legislating against it. But practice in other countries shows that the judiciary has the right to review even a constitutional amendment. Given the popularity of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the comparatively low reputation of the PPP government in governance, the former seems to win the mind of the common man. For those who adhere to the principles of democracy, it is important that the PPP and its coalition partners enjoy a majority in parliament and can’t be made to go away.

The PPP has been a party hard done by. It has been (wrongly!) regarded as a security risk and removed from power, with the opposition parties agreeing (wrongly!) with the army. Now the army and the opposition are seen to be out hunting for it again via the Supreme Court. A small minority of lawyers think that the Supreme Court has gone too far in its suo motu pursuit and looks like following the spoor of a vendetta with the PPP in general and its leader President Zardari in particular. Hence, the sense of martyrdom among the people which Prime Minister Gilani seems to opt for when he says he will not write the letter. The case of treason (sic!) against his government brought to the Court on the basis of the revelations of an American citizen Mansoor Ijaz has not gone so well for the army and the major opposition party, the PML-N.

One opinion is that that if Mr Gilani is sentenced in contempt and given two years in jail — which is not possible, the maximum being six months — he will lose his membership of parliament, but then the procedure of getting rid of him will be complicated and be overtaken by the next elections. That price, it is apparent, he is willing to pay.


Seeking asylum

March 19th, 2012


Recent reports by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have thrown more light on the consequences of Pakistan’s precarious security situation: according to the international agency, thousands of Pakistanis flee the country every year hoping to get respite from violence and religious discrimination.

It is well known that Pakistan has housed a record number of Afghan refugees over the years, even topping the UNHCR’s list of refugee-hosting countries in 2008. However, relatively little is said about the spike in Pakistanis seeking asylum. Records of asylum applications kept by host countries and international agencies are often the only way to corroborate this trend. A glance at immigration figures from the UK’s Office for National Statistics, for example, tells us that that a total of 2,411 Pakistanis applied for asylum in 2011 — almost double the amount of asylum applicants from Afghanistan in the same year and more than any other country in Asia.

Poor security, a rise in extortion and kidnapping, lapses in the justice system and growing intolerance for religious and ethnic minorities are all reasons why a growing number of Pakistanis have become desperate enough to flee. These problems are slowly getting so acute that professionals like doctors, journalists and artists have now joined the ranks of those who seek asylum — a tell-tale sign that even the average man in Pakistan is not safe if he speaks his mind.

Although the possibility of new leadership in 2013 has kept hope alive for many, things are not looking up for those contemplating asylum abroad. As a first step to counter this crisis, the government should publicly acknowledge this trend and accept that it has not been able to keep its citizens safe. Measures that have long been talked of, like depoliticising the police force and educating the public about minority rights, must be prioritised.

Unfortunately, with a government so mired in constitutional controversy and political parties vying for mass popularity before the looming general elections, it appears that difficult decisions will continue to be sidelined and more Pakistanis will slip across the border in search of a future they could not find at home.
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