Iftikhar Chaudhry, the saga ensues!

Can someone tell this unfortunate nation with a straight face-minus the rhetoric, what is iftikhar chaudhry’s, ramday’s and khawaja shareef’ sin? Why haven’t they been reinstated? Who is Farooq Nalayiq (thanks 4 man show) fooling except himself? Zardari is justifiably paranoid with the idea of Iftikhar Chaudhry as Chief Justice. If Mr. Chaudhry didn’t back off and instead insisted on the course of law under the constitution against a uniformed general, than Zardari doesn’t have a prayer. Dogar lota also suits him because Dogar has a proven track record of bending over.

When you are at the helm of affairs this is exactly the type of judiciary that you want. However Zardari is forgetting that he and his party would have to go back to the people of Pakistan after 5 years if not earlier. Martial dictators can afford these shenanigans, however people who eventually would have to be back begging for votes should give a little more hoot to public sentiment. I was of the opinion that as wrong as it is to neuter the judiciary the way they have, PPP will come out all right at the end, IF they at least successfully address the electricity crisis in Pakistan. I don’t see any serious efforts being made on that front, or any front for that matter.

The situation is dismal on all fronts and understandably so because Pakistan is a mess of epic proportions, thanks to not just dictatorships but utter incompetent know-it-all’s starting from Ghulam Muhammad and continuing on as we speak. It would be insane to expect miracles from PPP who even with all their good intentions, just don’t seem competent or equipped to sail this ship to calmer waters.

The easiest good-will they could have scored with the people of Pakistan was the full reinstatement of the judiciary and in my humble opinion that would have gained tremendous compensation for PPP on the failures that will surely ensue.

I am still speechless as to why APDM in coalition with the lawyers’ community haven’t been able to exert meaningful pressure on government to reinstate Iftikhar Chaudhry and the rest. I mean I know for a fact that Jamat-e-Islami alone has membership in millions thru out the country and they are pretty decently organized as well. Add to that Tehreek-e-insaaf, achakzai, Lawyers and civil society and muslim league (N) (if they truly aren’t playing a double game here) than surely you can put on an impressive show and PPP will have to dance. I wish MQM was on the right side of this equation. Now they know a thing or two about bringing people on streets but than again they haven’t been on the right side of any equation for quite sometime now.

I’ll tell you why this in my opinion is crucial. Rule of law and an independent judiciary affects all aspects of public life. I am not saying it’s a magic wand that cures all ill in the society, but an independent, competent and a fair judiciary is as important as anything else. Fact of the matter is that ever since Iftikhar Chaudhry has been out of office, not one date has been set for hearing of the mannoo bhayl case or the missing people case or the new murre project by pidr-e-pervaiz-elahi or any of the cases where the judiciary was asking uncomfortable questions on behalf of the common Allah-wasaya and establishment was not very happy about that.

Negative attitude and complacency at the highest forum of justice, disenfranchises people at large and they feel that they don’t have a door available to knock on if they are wronged by someone as strong as the state itself. When people are disenfranchised they become desperate and they loose hope and hope is that magical feeling inside all of us that keeps us sane, when that is lost we become erratic and sometimes can even blow ourselves up.

I am cautiously optimistic about the democracy in Pakistan. I am certain that the nerve, grit, impartiality and strength that Pakistani media and journalists have displayed in the last year or so is irreversible and this in my opinion is the most positive aspect of this entire uprising.

I am also quite confident that sooner rather than later the rulers and establishment in our country would have to learn to live with an independent judiciary and when that happens, we’ll be able to justifiably boast about democracy in Pakistan. Because democracy is not just the festival of elections, otherwise Zia, Saddam, Hosni Mubarak amongst several others conducted elections on regular basis. Jalib said on such elections:

Shehar mein hoo kaa aalam thaa
Jinn thaa yeah referendum thaa

Democracy at the least is freedom of all pillars of state to function without any duress under the constitution.

I believe it’s never too late to do the right thing. I realize that we have opened a can of judicial-worms by taking oath all over again but we can definitely put this genie back in the bottle. If we can scheme, overlook constitution and come up with absurd interpretations of law to accommodate all the wrong things than I am sure we can ask sharifuddin peerzada to find us a ‘constitutional’ way to right this wrong and reinstate Iftikhar Chaudhry. I am certain peerzada would do it for the right price. He has to put food on the table and I reckon its all about the mighty dollar as far as he is concerned. You see my friends (thanks John Mccain) Jane usually doesn’t care who the John is, as long as john got cash, its all good in the hood.

I think that the reinstatement of an independent judiciary is inevitable in Pakistan and it will happen in very near future. It’s up to PPP to score some much needed political mileage out of this foreseeable surety. Pakistan is in a jiffy would be the understatement of century but nations can and do come out of these binds provided the leadership is brave, sincere and more importantly competent. I don’t know if zardari is all of that but please do feel free to surprise me Sir, I’ll be obliged for the sake of my beloved motherland.

Yeah daagh daagh ujala,
Yeah shab-guzeeda sahar.

Yeah who sahar to nahi kay jiskay liyayy,
Chalay thay yaar kay miljayegi kaheen na kaheen.