It was a great piece of de jure relief for Imran Khan. The Supreme Court’s order to immediately release the PTI chief by terming the incommunicado action of May 9 from the IHC premises as illegal and ultra vires has come as the much desired consolation in a volatile environment. The three-member bench of the apex court under Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial touch-based on some of the most critical riddles of lawfare and did a lot of soul-searching to ascertain as to what is the nature and basis of case against Khan, and whether NAB or the federal government is responsible for this extra-legal and unlawful detention. The intention of the court was to not only provide relief to the applicant, in its de facto essence, but also to uphold the writ of law and the Constitution at a time when the fabric of the state is jaundiced and public perception is divisive to the core.
The instant summoning of the former PM in the court, and the provision of due relief, has turned a new leaf of confidence in the independence of the superior judiciary. Notwithstanding the political ire that the coalition government may nurse against Khan and his party, the fact that they were forthcoming in obliging the court orders has sent in the right signals of a thaw in the making. And this is what was noted by the honourable bench as it directed Mr Khan, on the rostrum, and the political forces to talk it out for an amicable way out. Likewise, the top court’s ruling to reverse the arrest of the PTI chief, and the direction to knock on the doors of IHC today has consolidated the convention of adherence to law.
Some of the valid observations such as, ‘how can anyone be denied the right to justice?’; ‘what dignity remains of the court if 90 people enter its premises by force?’; and, ‘how can any individual be arrested from court premises?’; have recrafted the vibrancy of law for all times, and litigations of future. Perhaps, this is why the CJP remarked, ‘read our lips, (as) each and every word is important.’ Now is the time to reconnect the dots of law, and walk ahead for a political solution.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 12th, 2023.
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