Another commission!

The government’s decision to appoint a one-member inquiry commission to probe into the whistleblower letter from six IHC judges prima facie looks as a cover-up move.

While the letter alleging interference of the executive in the affairs of the judiciary, through tools of coercion and intimidation, was addressed to the Supreme Judicial Council, this quick-fix measure is unlikely to pacify the aggrieved parties. The opposition, PTI, has already called for high-profile resignations at the helm of judiciary, stating that they were complicit and in knowledge of the ordeal, and that the cabinet’s repudiation of the charges as ‘inappropriate’ has led to extreme divisions on the national mosaic.

A probe under a retired judge is set to stir further revulsion. Though Justice (retd) Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, a former chief justice, is an ardent believer in civil liberties and fundamental rights, he will be in rough waters as he navigates his way amid a contentious movement for dispensing real-time justice.

With the Bar Councils, lawyers and opposition parties having announced hitting the streets to seek justice and an impartial investigation, the commission formed by the executive will be under slur and suspicion. It is feared this commission too, like its predecessors, will gather dust either in the annals of darkness, or its findings will be hushed up as has been the convention since the Hamoodur-Rehman Commission.

The revelations from the serving judges have opened a Pandora’s Box on the unfortunate tendency of interference in judicial affairs, and its independence at the moment stands compromised. This is unbecoming for civil supremacy and comes as a negation of rule of law. This is time for all to look beyond personal interests and join hands for judicial assertiveness and its freedom. This is how we can restore trust of the masses in separation of powers under the writ of the constitution. The apex court must involve itself in rehabilitating its image in larger national interest.