Editorial

High noon

The government, the judges, the media and everyone involved must play due role in ensuring the stormy sea is calmed.

Editorial October 15, 2010

The late night drama of October 14, as 17-judges unexpectedly gathered to review reports of a possible government move to withdraw the March 2009 notification restoring judges, has put us all on edge. There was an element of nail-biting suspense for hours, as a special hearing into the issue was announced. The sense of theatre continued into Friday morning as judges sought an assurance that no such move was planned. The government has already denied the existence of any such scheme.

The whole business is a reminder of cowboy films of the past, involving dramatic shoot-outs, bitter rivalries and crazed excitement as guns are pulled out from holsters. However we should remember we live in a modern state, with certain rules of conduct in place. There should be no need for so much suspense. The sound and fury we are hearing seems unnecessary. The whole affair appears to have been built around media reports, with the question of whether any other evidence was available completely unclear. Everywhere in the world, the media has its own agenda – one of which is to keep people riveted to screens – and for this reason is not always the most reliable bearer of information.

What we need most of all is calm. The signs of panic we are seeing are damaging. They will only aid those seeking to use the situation for their own purposes, by igniting further mistrust between the judiciary and the executive. Many times in our history we have seen the consequences of institutions failing to stick to the roles assigned to them by the Constitution. What we need now, most of all, is composure. Temperatures need to be lowered. What our nation needs above all is stability. Otherwise it will not be able to overcome the various kinds of crises the country faces. The priority must be to address these issues. The government, the judges, the media and everyone else involved must play their due role in ensuring that the currently stormy sea is calmed and things can once more run along a smoother track.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2010.

COMMENTS (8)

khalid.aziz | 13 years ago | Reply Its the same old story of PPP vs Anti PPP mindest+Establishment. Unfortunately, so called "Independant Judiciary" is also just pushing the PPP against the wall. It looks like they are not interested in any other long pending cases- for example the writ petition of Asghar Khan awaiting a decision since ever.

SharifL | 13 years ago | Reply It appears it is not only military that has the last shots. If the army is weak, judiciary takes over to initiate trouble. I say give the government a chance. After a decade of army rule, can we have a peaceful civilian government? The government is in a fix after the NRO verdict, but SC must hold its horses and not get involved in political matters.

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Qazi | 13 years ago | Reply Military, Military Nawaz, Media, and Judiciary has been a dream team to ditch People's Government in the past. If it is happening now then nobody should be surprised. By the way, Article 6? My God!!!

Mir | 13 years ago | Reply The Government needs to change its priorities from protecting and encouraging corrupt in competent cronies and foces on providing transparent good governance. Once it cleans its stables of all the rotten eggs, it has nothing to fear, not even from the Supreme Court

Jonaid Iqbal | 13 years ago | Reply The drama shoud have come to an end when according to reports both President and Prime Minister issued statements denying such a move.However, if the Supreme court wanted a reassurance of the same statement from the Prime Minister Friday morning the Attorney general should have found time to get his attention and assure the SC. We would then have desus ex machina and no tension afterward.

Khalid Munir | 13 years ago | Reply stability ,for many means ouster of Bhutto family from politics. For 25 years efforts were made to keep the Bengalis out of power. Ultimately they decided to make a separate homeland for themselves, paying a very heavy price. pakistan paid for this policy by splitting into two. Since 1977 efforts are being made to keep the Bhutto family out of power at all cost. Why? No one, at least the PPP sympathizers do not have an answer for that. Bhutto family has suffered a lot due to this policy but the country too has equally suffered. tolerance and calm which you have proposed is a dream.

T. Ali | 13 years ago | Reply If the Government had no ill-intention, inspite of utterancs to the contrary by its senators, MNAs and spokes-womean on talk shows, it should have given a statement in writing as demanded by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Remember that as long as the Supreme Court of Pakistan works independently of the executive, there will be hope. What can we expect of a regime that considered it proper to appoint a convicted FA pass to head the OGDC, or a former manager of a Night Club in Dubai to head the NIC. There are numerous other examples of this regime romanticising and eulogising former convicts, who faced charges of financial misconduct and tried to paint them as if they were political prisoners. The Supreme Court of Pakistan enjoys more credibilty internationally and domestically than any other institution in Pakistan today. We hope and pray that this elected government realises that it is the constitution which is more supreme and not the ego of those who are elected and occupy constitutional offices. All men are equal before the law, and this includes the President, PM, Speaker, Ministers, Governors, CM, Generals, Bureaucrats etc.

F. U. Khan | 13 years ago | Reply A famous maxim says "where there is smoke the fire is some place there" The rumor or say the idle speculation signifies that there is some thing embryonic at some place which was going to surface sooner . Looks like, the clandetine explusive news emited in its rudimentary stage and the premature revelation has made the government panicky. Had this news not leaked out of its boundaries, there would have been a very serious political turbulence. The direct collusion between the two institutions resultantly could bring about monstrous devastation. It can be easily speculated that The PPP government will not sit dormant and would be in the pursuit of approriate time to give a tremendous cut to the judiciary. The government deems judiciary as a srious restraint in attaining its voracious goals to maximally beneficing itself and all its corrupt zealots. All wrongdoings of the past tenures could only be neutralized by sacking the judiciary.

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