Uniting for justice

A picture speaks a thousand words! That was, indeed, exhibited as Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and puisne judge Qazi Faez Isa were seen together planting a sapling on Friday in the premises of the Supreme Court. This click of the camera would not have mattered had it been in normal circumstances. But the fact of matter is that the country and, especially, its superior judiciary is in the eye of storm and rumours, portraying the Brother Judges as being at each other’s throat, and differing in their jurisprudential judgments allegedly for the sake of political whitewashing. That is not the case, per se. Both the honourable judges by doing the spade work on the gardens have, in fact, dented the fences of nuisance that were at work by a section of the media and troublemakers.

This piece of solidarity is in need of being extended in the courtrooms, too. The judiciary is inevitably the last hope of any nation-state in distress. As stated by wartime British PM Winston Churchill, as long as the judiciary is dispensing justice, no amount of warfare and aggression can disunite the nation. Pakistan is in a similar sphere these days, as rampant political instability and clash of the titans in the organs of the state has pushed it to the brink. The constitution and rule of law is in need of being upheld, and should not come to derail the system in vogue, come what may! This is where the superior judiciary has a role to play, as the nation and stakeholders look up to it in praise and dedication, hoping that their fundamental rights and law of the land shall be protected.

It goes without saying that difference of opinion in the court of law in terms of interpreting the constitution is a given in Westminster-ism. But what is non-negotiable is the writ of the judiciary over other organs of the state, and this is where the judges have a responsibility to hold fast their territory. Justice must be seen to be done, and judges must unite in compassion to realise justice in real time.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2023.

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