Sri Lanka has taken a similar step to repeat the Pakistani drama by unceremoniously dismissing its own chief justice.
JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA: As is said, it is generally easy to imitate and adapt bad habits while good ones always take time and effort to adopt. Though Pakistan failed to learn any lesson from Sri Lanka regarding how it crushed the insurgency, which terrorised that country for decades, however, apparently, Sri Lanka liked the way former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf dismissed the chief justice of the Supreme Court in 2007. Sri Lanka has taken a similar step to repeat the Pakistani drama by unceremoniously dismissing its own chief justice. Whether the next scene in the drama will be a repeat of what happened in Pakistan, wherein General (retd) Musharraf’s government got derailed as a result of the lawyers’ movement to reinstate the dismissed justice, is a million dollar question.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa may be feeling quite strong after quelling the Tamil insurgency and dismissing and jailing former army chief Sarath Fonseka, however, the firing of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake may cost him dearly. The president should not repeat the mistake General (retd) Musharraf committed and immediately reinstate the chief justice. An impartial judicial enquiry commission, which should have the trust of lawyers and the rest of the legal community, should decide her future.
Masood Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, January 16th, 2013.
