A licence suspended

Babar Awan’s law licence suspension is probably one of the last things to get worked up about.

Out of the many possible casualties in the Supreme Court’s push against the PPP government, Babar Awan’s law licence is probably one of the last things to get worked up about. On January 18, the Supreme Court took Awan to task for the remarks he had made maligning the judiciary in the media. The former law minister added fuel to the fire by refusing to retain a lawyer or answer contempt charges against him, leading to the predictable suspension of his licence. There is no need to shed crocodile tears at this turn of events. Awan seemed to be courting martyrdom by deliberately provoking the court and now has to pay the price for his words and actions. As it is, the loss of his law licence is unlikely to prove much of a hindrance in his true profession: that of politics, not law. Already there are rumours swirling that Awan will be welcomed back to the law ministry and he is already a senator.

Whatever happens to Awan, the PPP government has a lot more to worry about. By now it should be obvious that the Supreme Court will pursue charges against the government, especially on the NRO case, with the prime minister scheduled to appear in court today. There are some who say that despite its welcome judicial activism, the Court has not been the neutral dispenser of justice given that illegal actions by military dictators in the past have hardly attracted judicial censure or disapproval. The problem that the PPP has is that it just cannot disengage from the Court the way Awan did in his contempt of Court proceedings. The government tried to do just that when the Supreme Court challenged the appointment of the National Accountability Bureau’s chief and ended up having to grovel and apologise. It has tried a similar tack in the NRO case by refusing to write to the Swiss authorities asking them to reopen cases against Zardari and that too will end in tears.

Defiance has cost Babar Awan his ability to practice law; if the PPP remains similarly bullheaded it will have its ability to govern snatched away from it.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19^th, 2012.