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Guest
Guest
ISLAMABAD, PakistanA Pakistan television anchorwoman Ms. Aysha Tammy Haq gleefully, and with an unlimited pleasure, lambasted Gen. Pervez Musharraf as per the normal trend these days. Then she wore a look of wisdom on her face and pretended she was about to utter words of eternal wisdom and asked, Is there any country in the world where 60 judges have been dismissed?
To her and to those like her, I pose this challenge:
1. Is there any other country in the world where you dont need to pay lawyers when the Judges are available to the highest bidder?
2. Is there any other country in the world where a reference is filed against a Chief Justice accusing him of serious excesses and then his fellow judges decide not to hear the reference to protect him?
3. Is there any country in the world where 14 Judges who believe in their own interpretation that they have been aggrieved by the President of the country, sit on the bench and serve notice to the same President knowing well that there is a conflict of interest and is against accepted principles of justice?
4. Is there any country in the world where a Saeeduzzaman Siddiqi bench is constituted to dismiss a sitting honorable Chief Justice namely Sajjad Ali Shah against whom there was no reference, simply because the prime minister of the day wanted the judges to wage a Judges vs. Judges battle?
5. Is there any country in the world where a Supreme Court is physically attacked and the judges seek help from the Army which is denied? The person who was instrumental in the whole process becomes a national hero and leader of a neo conservative party deemed as popular.
6. Is there any country in the world where the same leader becomes the torch bearer of a movement to restore a Chief Justice against whom a judicial reference was filed but remained frozen?
7. Is there any country in the world where closed cases are revisited and excursion tours taken to mortuaries to dig out cases that can be upturned on grounds of judicial and political expediency? Can precedents be so easily changed? Is it morally correct?
8. Is there any country in the World where terrorist Maulana Aziz and terrorist Sufi Mohammad arrested by President Musharraf are released by the judiciary?
9. Is there any country in the world where actions of Red Mosque operatives which were clearly to challenge the writ of the State are condoned and security apparatus held in adverse view?
10. Is there any country in the world where the people of the country are so disgusted with the countrys Judiciary that they want Islamic Sharia, as in Swat, which then had to be approved overnight by the Parliament?
11. Is there any country in the world where a few thousand so-called civil society members, disgruntled self-serving politicians with billions of dollars stashed abroad defend these legal persons and judges on the streets through sit-ins and strikes, bringing down the whole country ?
12. Is there any country in the world where legal persons are hated and despised because of their inability to provide justice?
13. Is there any country in the world where a National Reconciliation Ordinance is perforce issued because the judiciary cannot decide the cases?
14. Is there any country in the world where the corrupt go unpunished ,get their properties back and become dignified leaders of the country duly elected with a thumping majority?
15. Is there any example that resembles how no one in our judiciary takes up the case for removing the NRO but a case is taken up for dismissing the judges against a person who is no longer in office?
16. Is there any country in the world which has a Justice Munir? This Justice is born and reborn to implement the Rule of Law tailored to the whims of the powerful.
17. And last but not the least, is there any country in the world where a lawyer-turned-anchor forgets the role of a TV anchor but remembers the role of a biased lawyer and flaunts it with pride on TV?
18. Madam, is there any country in the world where lawyers oh well, the list is infinite and I guess you get the point.
I dedicate this article to the Pakistani middle and lower classes, the prisoners and litigants whose cases will never be decided in their lifetime. Thanks to these judges and lawyers
jeyee MUSHARRAF
jeyee MQM
To her and to those like her, I pose this challenge:
1. Is there any other country in the world where you dont need to pay lawyers when the Judges are available to the highest bidder?
2. Is there any other country in the world where a reference is filed against a Chief Justice accusing him of serious excesses and then his fellow judges decide not to hear the reference to protect him?
3. Is there any country in the world where 14 Judges who believe in their own interpretation that they have been aggrieved by the President of the country, sit on the bench and serve notice to the same President knowing well that there is a conflict of interest and is against accepted principles of justice?
4. Is there any country in the world where a Saeeduzzaman Siddiqi bench is constituted to dismiss a sitting honorable Chief Justice namely Sajjad Ali Shah against whom there was no reference, simply because the prime minister of the day wanted the judges to wage a Judges vs. Judges battle?
5. Is there any country in the world where a Supreme Court is physically attacked and the judges seek help from the Army which is denied? The person who was instrumental in the whole process becomes a national hero and leader of a neo conservative party deemed as popular.
6. Is there any country in the world where the same leader becomes the torch bearer of a movement to restore a Chief Justice against whom a judicial reference was filed but remained frozen?
7. Is there any country in the world where closed cases are revisited and excursion tours taken to mortuaries to dig out cases that can be upturned on grounds of judicial and political expediency? Can precedents be so easily changed? Is it morally correct?
8. Is there any country in the World where terrorist Maulana Aziz and terrorist Sufi Mohammad arrested by President Musharraf are released by the judiciary?
9. Is there any country in the world where actions of Red Mosque operatives which were clearly to challenge the writ of the State are condoned and security apparatus held in adverse view?
10. Is there any country in the world where the people of the country are so disgusted with the countrys Judiciary that they want Islamic Sharia, as in Swat, which then had to be approved overnight by the Parliament?
11. Is there any country in the world where a few thousand so-called civil society members, disgruntled self-serving politicians with billions of dollars stashed abroad defend these legal persons and judges on the streets through sit-ins and strikes, bringing down the whole country ?
12. Is there any country in the world where legal persons are hated and despised because of their inability to provide justice?
13. Is there any country in the world where a National Reconciliation Ordinance is perforce issued because the judiciary cannot decide the cases?
14. Is there any country in the world where the corrupt go unpunished ,get their properties back and become dignified leaders of the country duly elected with a thumping majority?
15. Is there any example that resembles how no one in our judiciary takes up the case for removing the NRO but a case is taken up for dismissing the judges against a person who is no longer in office?
16. Is there any country in the world which has a Justice Munir? This Justice is born and reborn to implement the Rule of Law tailored to the whims of the powerful.
17. And last but not the least, is there any country in the world where a lawyer-turned-anchor forgets the role of a TV anchor but remembers the role of a biased lawyer and flaunts it with pride on TV?
18. Madam, is there any country in the world where lawyers oh well, the list is infinite and I guess you get the point.
I dedicate this article to the Pakistani middle and lower classes, the prisoners and litigants whose cases will never be decided in their lifetime. Thanks to these judges and lawyers
jeyee MUSHARRAF
jeyee MQM
