The gloves are off and no holds barred
THE battle in the political arena is now affecting all the branches of the country and bringing the nation closer to the brink of chaos and anarchy. The political gladiators are now circling and glaring at each other, the gloves are off and no holds barred in this gladiatorial fight to the death. The Supreme Court of Pakistan has now become the theatre of war between the two major political parties that is the PTI and the PMLN. The honourable judges of the apex court now appear to be the pieces in a game of chess and whether they know it or not they are being moved at the whim of the chess players.
London and Lahore appear to be the operations rooms of the two political factions with Nawaz Sharif firing his salvos of fire and brimstone from London and the Cult leader of the PTI Imran Khan accusing his opponents of the PDM of threatening the Supreme Court and reenacting the scenes of 1997 when the Supreme Court was assaulted by the supporters of PMLN to threaten the then CJP Sajjad Ali Shah, who was part of a conspiracy hatched by President Farooq Leghari against the then sitting government. Both the leaders have called upon their supporters and workers to come out in support of their stand and this is adding fuel to the raging fires of polarization that has engulfed this country.
Regretfully the present crisis now looks like a deadly duel between the incumbent ruling coalition and the Chief Justice of Pakistan. The CJP Umar Ata Bandial announced on Friday that the case of delay in elections to the Punjab and KPK assemblies will continue on Monday in spite of the fact that the bench headed by him has been reduced to just three members from the original nine-member Bench. Leaders of the PDM member parties held a meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, on Saturday and expressed “no confidence” in the diminished three-member bench. A day back, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif had voiced an unequivocal rejection of the said bench and called for a full court bench to hear the case.
For reasons best known to him the CJP has very clearly rejected the request of the PDM government for constituting a full court bench to hear this case, but the difference of opinion between various judges does call for a full court hearing. The present Supreme Court judges are publicly divided and this glaring division is perhaps the greatest division in the history of the Supreme Court. Today a full court reference is the need of the hour. This full bench will enable every member to make observations or write dissent opinions and this will help show the collective will and wisdom of the apex court on the sensitive and significant political and constitutional crisis. No matter how the different judges rule on the matter both sides that is the PDM and the PTI will not be able to reject a ruling made by a bench they themselves have agreed upon.
We all know that justice is blind and all judges are duty bound to behave as professional jurists. Judges do not speak their judgments do, they should let their written judgments do the talking. The era of judicial activism and judicial jokers like Saqib Nisar is dead and buried because their actions as political pundits and activists has done immense harm to this country. The PMLN at this stage should focus its energy to reform the perceived judicial problems and wash away the stigma of storming the Supreme Court in 1997.
The present political crisis is a stark reminder of the 1977 PNA movement against the regime of ZA Bhutto that resulted in political polarization in the country leading to the third martial law and military rule of Zia Ul Haque that lasted eleven years. The results of the 1977 elections were rejected by the PNA coalition of nine parties and they demanded the ouster of the Bhutto Govt. This unfortunate country goes through such political chaos again and again. Ethnic sentiments are evoked and the use of religion is made shamelessly, political opponents are called traitors and enemy agents all this causes chaos and damages democracy. Today again the nation is mired in a severe constitutional crisis leading to a deepening divisions in the social and political areas. The PTI is blaming the PDM govt. the establishment and everybody else including Charlie’s aunt, except itself of being agents in the regime change operation led by the USA.
In the prevailing constitutional and political crisis the eyes of the nation are now riveted on the Supreme Court. People of Pakistan are hopeful that the Constitution will prevail and this will be reflected in the judgment of the learned judges. It is fervently hoped that as the custodian of the Constitution the court will uphold the rule of law as well as the fundamental rights of the people. It is, however, incumbent upon the political class to ensure implementation on constitutional dictates.
