The row between the government and judiciary is likely to deepen in coming days as over 18 verdicts of the independent Supreme Court are still awaiting implementation.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly been directing the government for implementation the verdicts; however, the government kept declining, which according to legal experts, analysts and common citizens is against the independence of judiciary.
According to Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) former president Hamid Khan, Gilani-Zardari led government is creating hurdles in implementation of these orders as majority of them is related to the cases of corruption involving top government and political functionaries.
He said in many cases like the NICL scam and Haj scams, NRO and Swiss cases, and the NAB chief’s appointment, the government is tainted with corruption, violation of law and defiance of judiciary. “Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is an honest and upright person, that’s why the feudal lords in and outside the government cannot tolerate him.”
According to SCBA’s former vice-president Muhammad Ikram Chaudhry, the government do not want an independent judiciary. He said nobody was above the law and the accountability had to be started from the top.
He said Premier Gilani had committed a contempt of court by defying the apex court’s orders in many cases, besides issuing defamatory statements against judiciary.
He said the court had been giving more than enough time to the government for the implementation of its verdicts, but to no avail; thus the court now should take a decisive step and initiate contempt proceedings against all those blocking the process.
Majority of legal experts believe that the latest tussle between the higher judiciary and the government, which emerged due to non-implementation of court’s independent verdicts, proves the government’s callousness towards the superior judiciary and rule of law. They said the apex court had shown extreme judicial restraint, as it supported democracy. During the hearing of various cases, the court had been observing that it wanted to see the democracy flourishing.
During hearing of a case pertaining to promotions of bureaucrats in violation of merit policy, the court observed that it respected the prime minister’s authority of transferring officers; however, under article 5 and 190 of the Constitution, every authority was bound to act in aid of the apex court.
An overwhelming majority of Pakistanis is standing with the judiciary. They struggled hard to restore independent judiciary and else they wish to see rule of law and accountability across the board more than anything. In the backdrop of non-implementation of apex court’s verdicts by the government, one can hear even common people as saying that the top judiciary should go to any extent to get its orders implemented.
People are so fed up from the system that they openly say that there is no need to save a failed system of governance called democracy, which empowers corrupt powerful feudal lords to abuse their authority. Now all the people want justice and rule of law and the system of governance doesn’t matter.
The government, despite repeated directives of the apex court to write letter to the Swiss authorities for reopening of $60 million corruption cases against President Zardari, has yet to act in accordance with the NRO judgment. Over 22 months have passed, but the NRO judgment still remains unimplemented. Similarly, the NAB chairman and prosecutor general have not so far been appointed.
In another high profile case of Rs 22 billion corruption scandal in the Pakistan Steel Mills, the then FIA director general Tariq Khosa, who was investigating the scam, was removed after the apex court expressed its complete satisfaction with his work. The interior minister was issued a contempt notice in the case, which involved Riaz Lal Gee, a close friend of President Zardari. However, the contempt proceedings were not pursued by the court and the matter is still pending.
The court’s orders are also not being implemented in letter and spirit in Rs 5 billion scam in NICL in which Moonis Elahi and some other political figures, like Mohsin Warraich, are involved. Similarly, hurdles are being created in the investigation of Haj corruption case in which Abdul Qadir Gilani, son of Prime Minister Gilani, is involved. Moreover, the government, despite clear orders of the apex court, has not removed dozens of contract and re-employed employees.