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March 28, 2024
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EditorialTirade against justice is bad move

Tirade against justice is bad move

The aftermath of the deputy speaker ruling verdict by the Supreme Court may prove detrimental to the judicial system as the government has started taking a tough stance against the judiciary in the National Assembly and elsewhere. This is a dangerous collision course that the government must refrain from taking up. On Wednesday, the government-sponsored a resolution in the national assembly, which was unanimously adopted by all ruling alliance parties about the formation of a special parliamentary body to undertake reforms in the judicial system. The formation of the body is fine and no one can disagree with the point the system is rotten and needs to be modernized. But the ensuing tirade against the judges and the judiciary on the floor of the house by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is unjustified. One can comment and criticize a court verdict but no one should be allowed to criticize judges. It is wrong to assume that it is only the judiciary that has harmed the state of democracy in the country. Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s point is valid that court after court validated all the military takeovers in the past, but he remained short of admitting that no democratic government took action against military dictators and instead some of the political parties were in bed with the dictators. Also, no parliamentary act was ever taken against those judges who validated the dictatorial regimes. If the present government is serious about damage control, instead of going ahead with its ‘malign-judiciary’ drive, it should sit with the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and bring legislation to reform the judiciary.  The PTI may agree to hold talks and work on reforms if their demands regarding elections are also included in the package. That is not bad. Right now, the ruling alliance lacks the two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament, which is required to amend the Constitution. The partnership of the PTI can make it possible.  Earlier, the PPP and the PML-N had promised to each to take up judicial reforms when they signed the Charter of Democracy almost two decades ago.

On the one hand, the government is stepping up a confrontation with the judges, and on the other hand, it has decided to withdraw the curative review petitions filed against Justice Qazi Faez Isa of the Supreme Court by the previous government. The cabinet observed that the case was filed by the previous PTI government through “unfair use of authority” to malign the judge. Though the PTI chairman, Imran Khan, has admitted that the case against Justice Isa was a bad move, the present government’s move might be seen as an effort to create a divide among judges. Earlier, the government’s demand regarding the formation of a full court bench was also an effort to create a wedge among judges. A coordinated drive has been launched to create the perception that the chief justice feels easy with a like-minded group of judges, and for that reason, those specific judges are made part of the benches for important cases. The chief justice is also being targeted before the scheduled meeting of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) that will discuss elevating Supreme Court judges. The lawyers’ bodies have expressed reservations over the nominations. When such issues are discussed publicly, the ultimate sufferer is the judiciary. The representatives of the Pakistan Bar Council, the Supreme Court Bar Association and high court bar associations of all the provinces, provincial bar councils and members and nominees of the bar councils have asked the chief justice to make seniority as the basic rule for elevation to the Supreme Court. Laws and regulations, however, allow the JCP to recommend any judge of the high court for elevation to the Supreme Court, and the JCP works in democratic manner.  If the bar and the government want to clip the wings of the JCP and the chief justice, the relevant forum is parliament.

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