Lawyers cast first stone

We await a final verdict of the Supreme Court while keeping up with new strategies employed by the family

Fresh in the daily news continues to be the topic of the Joint Investigation Team’s report against the Sharif family’s offshore holdings. While we await a final verdict of the Supreme Court, simultaneously keeping up with new developments and filibuster strategies employed by the family, Punjab’s lawyers have decided a protest is in order to call for the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. We welcome the protest which comes specifically from lawyers’ organisations in Punjab — namely, the Supreme Court Bar Association, Lahore High Court Bar Association, Pakistan Bar Council and Punjab Bar Council — for two reasons. First, it lends credence to the circumstance that Punjab’s lawyers — serving in proximity of the reigning dynasty — have not been bought out by the family and second, the protests demonstrate a hallmark of a democratic society: the right to assemble against politicians who do not uphold the legacy and honour of a democracy.

The lawyers’ commitment to justice is laudable especially at a time when supposedly impartial organisations have engaged in dishonest dealings. Citizens hope that the lawyers’ protest will embolden organisations in other provinces to join the fight. It may be cautioned, however, that the Supreme Court verdict should be respected and that due process of law should be allowed to take its course. Contrastingly, when the Panama Papers were first leaked, leaders in other countries caved to pressure and shamefully resigned, such as Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson of Iceland. Yet, here we are in Pakistan over a year later, with the Sharif family dragging its feet in court, desperately trying every move in the book to hold onto its throne in Islamabad.

Although it is a bold step, the lawyers demonstrate that perhaps some of our citizens are not so spineless and cowardly to be vocal about their beliefs as we think. It is time for the country’s citizens to be expressive about corruption and stand for it no more.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 20^th, 2017.

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