THE SUPREME COURT

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has never been out of the news for over a year now. This might be due in part to the efficiency of Supreme Court Media wing set up by the Chief Justice-an unheard of thing in any other Supreme Court to my knowledge. The Chief Justice himself has left no stone unturned to see that he is never far from the main headline in the media - the mid-night meeting called on the basis of an as yet unconfirmed news report, the order to the Prime Minister to submit a one line (or was it two) statement within an hour, and that obsession of obsessions; the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) implementation case are all juicy enough subjects to grab the headlines in our ‘breaking news’ crazy media. One has to ask; is it necessary for the Supreme Court to always remain in the headlines or is the Supreme Court better off quietly doing its job of handing down justice to the meek and down-trodden? The judges were busy past midnight on Thursday chalking out strategy to counter a de-notification of the restoration notification just on the basis of an as yet unconfirmed news leak and all 17 of them were busy all of Friday waiting for the PM to write one line to assuage their fears of de-notification of just 3 of the judges’ restoration? And what happened? The PM rightly refused and addressed the nation on Sunday explaining that his word was his bond and that he would not write what the SC had asked him to. The SC which had, for reasons best known to it, not listed any other case on Monday, backed down and the case was adjourned sine die. Two full days of the Court were lost for nothing. All the hype was in vain. How many precious hours were wasted and who is to account for them? What of the old, poor and down-trodden who have decade old cases still pending? Is this justice that the now bathed in milk judiciary was expected to hand down?

And now for the NRO cases. Justice Ad-hoc Ramday is reported to have asked; ‘Is it our fault if Parliament fails to ratify the NRO?” That, your honour, is the wrong question to ask. This blogger had already raised the question in an earlier post as to under what provision of the Constitution had the SC revived an Ordinance which was already dead according to a specific provision (Article 89) of the Constitution? The Supreme Court has only the power to interpret the Constitution and is itself bound by it. It does not have the power to amend it. Why was the NRO revived when it had died its death under a specific and unambiguous provision of the Constitution? Unfortunately it seems that the Supreme Court has forgotten that it lays down the law not only for the present but also for posterity. Decisions which make headlines today will also have to be read and applied when the present becomes the past. That realization seems to be missing.

The Supreme Court

The events in the Supreme Court of Pakistan have over-taken everyone expectations. The judgment on the November, 03, 2007, actions of the then Chief of Army Staff cum President is being hailed as 'historic' for various reasons. With respect, some questions arise. Why the hurry to announce the order on the same day as the hearing concluded? It was after all an important issue being adjudicated upon and no matter how black and white the legality of the actions in question there was no apparent reason for announcing that the order would be announced at 3:30 p.m. and then keep everybody waiting till past 8 in the evening. Could it not have waited till the next day? After all when the Supreme Court says 3:30 it should mean that!
Then there is the issue of the Ordinances (37 of them) which have now been handed over to Parliament to either transform into Acts or let them die a second death. Second death? Yes, most of these Ordinances had already lapsed but now the court has revived them and given Parliament another chance to look at them. Some opine that this amounts to an amendment of the Constitution which grants only a limited life to Ordinances passed by the President (120 days) or by the Governors of the provinces (90 days). Can the Supreme Court amend the Constitution and that too by a side wind so to say. More later.

Hello everybody - Everyone is talking about the notice sent by the Supreme court to Gen. Musharraf and what may come of it. I would like to hazard my guess. A top notch lawyer will appear on his behalf (S.S. Pirzada or A.H. Pirzada maybe through Malik Qayyum) and a preliminary objection will be taken that the action of November 03, 2007, was taken in the capacity of the Chief of Army Staff and as such cannot be called in question in the Supreme court. The Court might decide to hear the objections and decide to over-rule them, but more likely might say that they would like to hear the entire case and decide the issue and the main case together. Also an objection may at some stage be taken that the Chief Justice should not hear the case as he was personally affected by the actions taken. What will happen next will be discussed in my next post.

ELECTION BOYCOTTERS & LOSERS

The plethora of private TV channels has provided an opportunity for every Qazi, Imran and Shaikh to somehow squeeze space for themselves into our sitting rooms -uninvited, unconvincing and unwelcome. Yet they are there no matter how many buttons you press on the remote. They refuse to answer questions put to them directly and will say the same thing over and over again. Verbosity is a word unknown to them. In this my first posting I would like to request them and their ilk to first establish their credentials before they open their mouths. Qazi Hussain Ahmed (who incidently has a son studying in America) and Imran 'the lone ranger' Khan (educated in the UK) are election boycotters and therefore have no locus standi to either speak on behalf of the people or criticise a government they did not vote for or against. Please wait until the next elections and politely turn down offers of TV appearances. Shaikh Rasheed of the infamous 'Lal Haveli' forfieted his deposit in the last elections and therefore should not speak for the people.
Qazi Hussain is an American baiter and because of the failed policies of the current US administration has many listeners. But please listen to his expalanation for sending his son to study in the US: "He was studying a subject for which there were no 'boys only' institution in Pakistan. So he had to go to America!
I think that statements like that are an abuse to our intelligence. More later.