Extraordinary things have happened in the past few days. Pakistan’s better-known crony capitalist Mr Malik Riaz levelled allegations against the son of the sitting chief justice. The instrument used to transact this frontal attack was the media, which now stands divided. One section of the media comprises loyalists of the CJP, who have termed it a conspiracy to attack the judiciary; another segment wants to probe further and wants a neutral inquiry to determine the facts.
The Supreme Court itself has taken a few somersaults. First, came the suo motu by the CJP and for a day or two, the latter presided over the bench that dealt with his son’s case. Legal experts reminded everyone that Article IV of the Code of Conduct for judges states that: “A judge must refuse to deal with any case in which he has a connection with one party or its lawyer more than the other…” After initial involvement, the CJP distanced himself from the bench but took the opportunity to defend himself and tell the nation through a courtroom that he did not even own a house.
Then, there has also been convenient use of Islamic references in this saga. Mr Malik held a copy of the Holy Quran and held his scathing press conference. Such intersection of customary law and religion in a straightforward case made it more intriguing — at least, for the future of constitutionalism in the country.
The two-member bench recently disposed of the suo motu and sent the matter to the government for legal action. The short order consisting of 14 pages asks for action to be taken against all players. However, the Court has neither recommended a mode of inquiry nor insisted on how the investigation ought to be done. Even the fairest of inquiries would be termed political victimisation by supporters of the CJP. Thus, a new ‘victim’ of the CJP’s son has been added to the long list of corruption cases that are usually termed politically-motivated. The Court did not comment on how Dr Arsalan may have created a business worth Rs900 million in less than four years. And, most importantly, the bench also avoided raising the question of whether the honourable CJP was aware of his son’s dealings.
The issue is now slipping from the legal domain into a popular political contest. The opposition parties and sections of the bar have come out in support of the CJP and termed Malik Riaz’s assault a ‘conspiracy’ against the judiciary. Now, this may very well be true given the Court’s recent activism on the issue of missing persons and its reopening of the infamous case of the ISI meddling into political affairs and fixing the elections of 1990. However, no such conspiracy can be ascertained unless there is a fair and robust inquiry.
Mr Malik also influences the media, as was proved by the leaked video of the off air conduct of two famous anchors admitting to how planted questions were being used to mock-grill the tycoon. This has led to the first major crisis of Pakistan’s ‘free’ electronic media.
Mediapersons are attacking each other and an ugly split has appeared. This has dented the credibility of the Pakistani media. It is somewhat unfair as the case of Dr Arsalan’s dealings would never have appeared in the public domain had there been no free media. But the way TV anchors and channels operate, often with impunity, needs to be checked; a code of conduct is now imperative.
The recent full court meeting, administrative in nature, and its telecasting on television has also set a new precedent. Once again, a matter was discussed that involved the family member of a judge. Both sides are using the media for advancing their positions. However, the onus of protecting the judiciary against attacks and conspiracies is on the judges themselves. And, the vital issue here is to stay clean of any charge of bias or favouritism. Two powerful institutions — the media and the judiciary — are in crisis and it is time to restart the debate on public accountability of institutions that are not directly answerable to the people.
Published In The Express Tribune, June 17th, 2012.
COMMENTS (24)
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A much balanced analysis.
About code of ethics, government has clearly expressed that it be penned down and implemented by journalists and their bodies themselves. That is because, if government forwards any draft of code of ethics, a floodgate of criticism would open from none other than journalists themselves. The talk of code of ethics by media persons have been witnessed of late, but I am confident no code of ethics would shape up. Media is commercial big time, anything that would sell would be on air, why damn code of ethics - it is so simple. It would remain a sermon with no practicability like "do not tell a lie" and "love thy neighbour".
It is true the case of Arsalan Iftikhar has been beautifully put into cold storage by handing over the records to Attorney General. But that does not end the story. People are fool but they are not that fool. Ex-PM son's case is alive in SC, but CJ son's case has been transfered to government agencies (NAB or FIA). Period. However, in doing so, the tilt of advantage has shifted to Executives, Army and ISI which please note. Every one of them would try to use it in their advantage. Recent strikes and showdown by black coats to raise voice against "attack on judiciary" were missing the zeal and zest that had been witnessed in 2007. It is simply because PML-N cannot repeat the previous performance, although their only weapon to bully PPP is judiciary, if they are indebted to SC they are also indebted to Malik Riaz. PTI has no such experience and they know the Punjab Police would be brutally used to fail them. Media's soft corner for judiciary is there but Malik Riaz's gifts are also there. So it is win win position and this small cold shoulder is making a big difference for judiciary. If contemp proceedings are initiated against Dunya TV, we might see some very unexpected scenario. We are watching some journalists on TV talk shows openly criticizing the behavior of judiciary. Social media has coined a nick for CJ which I refrain to write in here.
@Pashtun voice: Whatever be the motive, the CJ's goose is cooked nice and proper!
@ALi: Much has been said, but is censored. The judiciary cannot hear or read the truth about them and the media dare not publish anything - hand in glove?
@Delirium: Absolutely right. The media is only as good as the politicians, the judiciary and the rest.
@Ejaaz: Well said. We need a fresh start with the judiciary. They are as good as the patwari and the thanedar.
@Sameer Malik: The credibility crisis is all round - Pakistan as a state suffers the worst, as do the legislature, the executive (including the civil and the military, and the "intelligence" agencies), and the judiciary.
@Ordinary Villager: While the writer may not be trying to mock the judiciary, the judiciary itself has certainly been doing that and needs no help.
Ability to express views is the beauty of democracy. But this recent episode has shaken the trust public had on our media!
I really appreciate it. The only thing is that we should be honest to ourselves and to this country as well. It is only yesterday that we believed one man(Mansoor Ijaz) blindly inspite of his being an internationally notorious (defamed), whereas today we are very cautious in believing another one, which we think is a”fraud”. Now it is apparent that if someone is with us he is cleaned and trustworthy and if we think the person is not toeing our line then he deserve nothing even justice. It is called hypocrisy!!!!
A useless article!
I think people really need to deal in facts and then reach a conclusion.
Fact 1: Malik Riaz's son, although not present at the car race in Bahria town in which a person died, was booked under Pakistan Penal Code act 302 (pre-meditated murder) by the CJ.
This seems to be the motive for Malik Riaz to have tried to influence the superior court.
Fact 2: Arsalan was given 35-40 crore rupees by Malik Riaz.
This is undeniable and there are plenty of receipts, passport copies etc of Arsalan availing of the goodies. Hence, money exchanged hands and at the very least a deal was reached between Malik Riaz and Arsalan.
Fact 3: CJ was told about the damning evidence 6 months ago by Aitzaz Ahsan and others. No Suo Moto was taken then except now when the information was leaked to the media.
My Verdict: Malik Riaz and Arsalan are both guilty of trying to conspire to alter the course of justice in the supreme court. CJ - needs to remove himself from any future proceedings that involve Arsalan and/or Malik Riaz.
Very well and balanced analysis.I appreciate the way he writes, not using the difficult vocabulary, unlike other writers here.
excellent account of what has transpired in the past few days! And I total agree with 'public accountability of institutions that are not directly answerable to the people'.
we are watching the events from its first day and we believe that in Pakistan Media is still immature, on many channels people only know the TV channels because of its anchors there is so much anchors domination rather TV over all control on them. plus lack of professionalism in all tv news channels they have much focus on " who will break the news first" rather share the news with proper proofs.. hope media will not cover itself on blaming Judiciary for its own professional flaws.
regards
The scandal has exposed the presence of unruly goons and 'dons' within our media and judiciary. Institutions are fast losing credibility in what appears to be the free-fall of Pakistani society. The various 'gates' have exposed issues of credibility in institutions of national stature and shown that it is not just the politicians that can be hurled with allegations of corruption, but the trend seeps deeper into the Pakistan's social fabric.
Finally someone says something against corrupt media & judiciary.
Agreed. every one has raised eyebrows on the conduct of politicians media is leading, so now it is turn of media and there is much talk from within for a code of conduct and inquiry into alleged distribution of money and plots among the jornos, and it is that opportunity, some one was looking to advance its interest in the future.
As if media and goons like Mubashir Lucman ever had any credibility and our judiciary....well history is replete with examples. Need we say more!?
The PCO justices should resign and go. They need to be replaced by judges untouched by PCO and they need to hold the investigation into Malik Riaz bribing of all and how CJ's son got a billion rupees business in 4 years without the CJ batting an eyelash about corruption in his household.
Sorry, the time for debate and talk has passed.
Mr Rumi Politicians are in a credibility crisis as well and you forgot to mention them.
Sorry to say But I disagree with the heading Media and the judiciary in a crisis of credibility?. Infact only the Media and the Politicians are in the real crisis of credibility right now. The writer's deliberate attempt to mock Judiciary here will not work here.