At the bar of justice

IN a country where national institutions have been repeatedly undermined by military usurpers as well as elected authoritarians, the higher judiciary is now being seen as the sole custodian of public interest. The executive branch appears interested only in self-preservation and the furthering of personal or group objectives. The malaise, however, is not restricted to those now occupying the seat of power. Indeed, most governments that have held sway over the years and decades have been guilty on this score. The legislature, meanwhile, has been reduced to a raucous assembly whose members are concerned primarily with settling personal and party scores, not law-making. The standard of discourse in the houses is far from high. Mindless desk-thumping and verbal abuse are the forte of the treasury and opposition benches alike and, sadly, this state of affairs is unlikely to change even in the event of free and fair elections. Politics is a family affair in Pakistan, a matter of legacy, and the intellectual calibre of the National Assembly may remain as dismal as ever if the same old faces continue to dominate the house. As far as national institutions go, that leaves only the armed forces and the less said on that count the better.

On Saturday, the Chief Justice of Pakistan reminded the judiciary of its historic responsibility at this critical juncture in the life of the nation. Preserving the sanctity of the Constitution and ensuring the rule of law, he said, must be a priority if the popular trust reposed in the courts is to be maintained. As the architect of the judicial activism that has done the country proud in recent years, the CJ is more than qualified to exhort his colleagues to higher standards. If it weren’t for the Supreme Court, Pakistan Steel would have been sold for a pittance to the frontmen of the politicos who may have instigated the ill-advised reference against the CJ. The ‘disappeared’ and their families would still be suffering in silence had the apex court not taken notice of their plight, putting the state on notice on that count and questioning, publicly, the unbridled powers enjoyed by the intelligence agencies. This is a key area where one hopes the SC will continue to focus. The country’s intelligence agencies have become a virtual state within a state, operating without let or hindrance and pursuing an agenda to which even the executive branch is sometimes not privy. Prior to his suspension in March, the CJ had made it known that he would be looking into the all-powerful agencies to define, once and for all, their prescribed role in the affairs of the state. This pending task ought to be tackled with tenacity and vigour.

Others areas where it is hoped the Supreme Court will take the lead include social evils such as honour killings, exchange marriages, child abuse and the scourge of jirgas. Access to justice and the hurdles created in its way by the easily influenced police is another case in point. At the same time, the rapacious ‘development’ lobby with its contacts in the executive branch must be brought to book if Pakistan is not to be turned into a concrete jungle. Ideally, these are issues for the legislature to examine and rectify, but many of its members are complicit in these irregularities and succour cannot be expected from that quarter. All eyes, then, are on the judiciary.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/31/ed.htm