Asma speaks her mind
She was never known for mincing any words and it appears Asma Jehangir is not about to start any time soon. Her latest bit of candour, however, has greater repercussions than usual. Here is one of the country’s most prominent lawyers, and a former head of the country’s principal liaison body between bar and bench, saying that the commission set up to investigate the memo affair is not going to be neutral. And she backs it up by declining to represent her client anymore after the Supreme Court ruled that the case was, indeed, maintainable.
If nine sitting justices of the Supreme Court can pass a compromised decision, she said in Islamabad while announcing her decision to quit as Hussain Haqqani’s counsel, she does not personally have any faith in a commission comprising of high court judges. As a parting shot, she also told the petitioners (the PML(N) lot) that this case would someday come back to bite them.
What to make of Ms Jehangir’s allegations? Is she contemptuous of court? Not really, because she was equivocal about her belief that the decision should be respected. The bigger question is whether she was right. The problem here is that the court itself is the only body that can decide that. Decisions like whether or not the case in question is something the Supreme Court should involve itself in don’t hinge on the text of the constitution; possible errors in judgment cannot be pointed out to the honourable lordships by the lawyers. Decisions like these hinge on the interpretation of grey areas in the constitution. What makes a court’s decision on these matters right or wrong depends on the level of acceptability accorded to these decisions by the legal fraternity, the political class and the polity as a whole. Where does history place, for instance, the judges that passed, say all the PCOs justifying military rule in the country’s history?
On that theme, it is important for justice not only to be done but seen to be done. The Supreme Court and now, the newly appointed commission, is expected to dispel impressions about its neutrality by its words and actions.
G R E A T
It is understandable that Ms Asma Jhangir is rightly worried about her client. The Commission consisted of three (subordinate) honourabale high court judges is not expected to go against the findings / directions pointed out by 9 honourable judges of Supreme Court and petioned by powerful agency and establishment through petioner PML (N).
Comments are closed.