Overtures from judiciary and executive
With good sense prevailing on both sides, the unhappy standoff between the government and the SC seems to be finally over. The softening of attitudes started on Friday when the SC which had given a 24-hour deadline to PM Gilani to restore the Establishment Secretary allowed the government to post the official to an equivalent position within seven days. This was seen as a positive message from the apex court and was hailed as a “beautiful order” by the Attorney General. Subsequently, a high level meeting at the dispelled the notion of a clash between the institutions. The PM in his address to the National Assembly yesterday has said that the government respects independence of institutions, including the judiciary and bureaucracy. This was in strong contrast to what the two sides were saying earlier, with the courts demanding immediate compliance and the government insisting that matters related to transfer and posting were an exclusive domain of the executive. Among the positive developments of the change of attitude is the appointment of the former Establishment Secretary as Secretary Narcotics Division.
While the normalisation of relations would be welcomed by many, one of its side effects is that it has deprived a set of politicians who had appointed themselves champions and protectors of a Supreme Court in danger, of a cause célèbre. Last week Imran Khan had accused the government of deliberately refusing to implement Supreme Court’s judgments. Not to be left behind Shahbaz Sharif had said his party could even sacrifice its government in Punjab to safeguard the dignity of the judiciary. On Saturday, both knights-errant suffered a setback when Justice Javed Iqbal told a gathering of judges and lawyers in Lahore that confrontation between the government and judiciary was only a brainchild of the media. Further that while there was an element of delay in implementing some the decisions of the apex court, the federal government had not defied any Supreme Court order.
The country cannot afford a standoff between the executive and judiciary. While the parliament is supreme in so far as law making is concerned, interpretation of the laws is the exclusive jurisdiction of the judiciary. Thus even when the government differs with the SC, it has to carry out its orders. The SC needs to concentrate more on making the judicial system honest, efficient and responsive to the complainants.