A shared vision

As the head of the superior judiciary, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar is not required to explain himself or his actions but the fact that he chose to on March 31st is still commendable because the crescendo of executive claims of the judiciary’s alleged interference continues to echo in the corridors of power. His succinct response to the executive therefore that had the state of affairs not been quite so poor there wouldn’t be any need to interfere. But should this be considered interference? Hardly. Nudging may be but interference no.

Nudging the government in the right direction, especially when the government has gone astray or ignored vital interests or committed an error or several errors is only part of the judiciary’s far-reaching goals. And everyone from the judiciary to the media and civil society to oversight committees has a duty to perform. Such an important function, if left unattended, has the potential of causing real harm to the country. Last week’s surprise one-on-one meeting between Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi with the chief justice was supposed to have ironed out some of the differences or removed a few misunderstandings between the ruling party and the superior judiciary. However, even if that aim was somehow miraculously achieved the ruling party’s former chief and ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif threw a spanner in the works. He also indicated that he was far from pleased that such a pow-wow had taken place at all.

There is nothing extraordinary about a meeting between the heads of government institutions. Meetings such as the one held last week serve to promote understanding and create goodwill between tiers of government. These and other institutions can function better by bringing a higher level of cordiality and trust into relationships. For instance, the prime minister had assured the chief justice at the meeting that all resources would be made available to the judiciary in order to enable it to provide justice to the people. The key takeaway for the judiciary is that there won’t be any foot-dragging on the issues highlighted by the chief justice. One hopes the executive can embrace a shared vision with the judiciary from now on.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd, 2018.

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