Throwback to the past

The S in SC doesn’t stand for Sharif, Mian sb

It might well have been a Freudian slip. The problem with Mian Nawaz Sharif is that his inability to properly express himself makes him say things which he doesn’t want to say publicly, thus putting him in trouble. So did his recent observation that he would not hesitate from setting up military courts for restoring peace in Karachi if he came to power again.

This was met with a strong rebuff from both the government and the judiciary. Speaking in the National Assembly and without naming any names, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani lashed out at those advocating the establishment of military courts in Karachi. The PM was right to make a point that there was no room for such courts in a democratic setup.

The reaction from the superior judiciary was rather blunt. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed that the constitutional court of ultimate jurisdiction had already shut the door on military courts forever. And he went on to add: “As long as we are sitting and functioning under the Constitution, nothing is going to happen to the system.”

Meanwhile, Ch Nisar Ali Khan had to do a lot of explaining to convince parliamentarians from across the political divide that he had the relevant excerpts of Mian Nawaz’s address to the public meeting in Karachi that showed he had only explained circumstances at the times when military courts had been set up in Karachi. But since there was no response from the house, he suddenly trained his guns on the prime minister for using the assembly forum to criticise a leader who was not a member of this legislature.

Mian Nawaz’s new-found love for the Supreme Court notwithstanding, his second tenure as prime minister was replete with the measures his government had taken to subdue the judiciary. The first event which became the starting point of a long tussle between him and the then Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah was the government’s decision to set up special courts for suppression of terrorism in contravention of the CJ’s advice. These courts allegedly set up to benefit the PML’s allies and supporters turned out to be a blot on the face of justice.

Chief Justice Shah had a point in that the establishment of special courts would be tantamount to setting up a parallel judicial system, thus eroding the authority of the superior judiciary. The confrontation between the executive and the judiciary had already begun when the CJ asked the government to fill five vacant positions at the apex court for carrying out the business of dispensing justice in a speedy manner. The PM’s response: those vacancies were abolished altogether. Even though he had to restore the positions afterwards owing to the pressure brought to bear upon him from certain quarters, he left them unfilled.

This was not the end of the story. The government had turned vengeful. It managed to create divisions among the judges which led to a two-member pro-government bench of the Supreme Court passing an interim order restraining Justice Sajjad Ali Shah from performing judicial and administrative functions of the Chief Justice of Pakistan. Subsequently, Quetta Bench of the Supreme Court went a step further to hold in abeyance the notification issued by the President appointing Justice Shah as the Chief Justice. Mian Shahbaz Sharif’s frequent shuttling between Islamabad and the provincial capital contributed largely to the government effort to get a favourable verdict from the Supreme Court’s Quetta circuit Bench. But, on the other hand, the Chief Justice persevered and continued hearing the contempt case against the prime minister despite the fact that his repeated requests to the army high command for deployment of troops at the SC building went unheeded.

Fast forward to November 28, 1997. An unruly mob led by the Muslim League workers from the Punjab stormed the Supreme Court building, forcing the Chief Justice and other members of the Supreme Court Bench to adjourn the contempt of court hearing against the PM. The police appeared on the scene to restore normalcy when the proceedings had already been adjourned and the courtroom completely ransacked. It all happened on the PM’s watch.

So much for Mian Nawaz’s faith in the supremacy of constitution and judiciary. He doesn’t tire of claiming credit for the reinstatement of sacked judges. But he still seems to lack confidence in the ability of the courts to dispense speedy justice. If while in power he had created special provisions for giving the army a due role in the running of the government, the policy of appeasement is now reflected in his desire to see the military courts become functional once again. The secret lies in his political grooming by the establishment.

The writer is Executive Editor, Pakistan Today