Gilani comes out swinging

After his sacking by the Supreme Court, former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani hadn’t spoken much. In his first public appearance since Gilani left the plush PM’s House in Islamabad, at a seminar here on Saturday, he came out swinging, reciting a ghazal every simile and every metaphor of which seemed to reflect his innermost feelings at his removal from office – and more importantly the verdict that ‘got’ him. Hum to gawah hain ke ghalat tha likha gya, Kya faisla huwa tha aur kya likha gya (We are witness, wrong was whatever the verdict was/All wrong, this judgment) was just the beginning. The ghazal, by a poet who has chosen to remain unidentified, is not really immaculate in terms of its craft, but aptly communicated what he wished to, to the audience of the day-long twin-session SAFMA seminar on a much talked about national issue, “Clash of Institutions and Sustainability of Democracy”. Gilani read the ghazal at the end of his keynote address, with the Maqtaa, the last verse, as provocative as the other four: Yeh kaisi munsifi thee ke munsif ke samnay, Jhuti shahadaton ko bhi sacha likha gaya (Dispensation of justice from a judge/who accepts fake witnesses as true!). Gilani said, he preferred taking the hemlock like Socrates so that people may not lose respect for the judiciary. “History and the people will give their own verdict on the Supreme Court decision [which got him disqualified] because some people had distributed sweets even when former Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged but history proved them wrong,” said Gilani, adding, his commitment to his leader late Benazir Bhutto was to restore the Constitution of 1973, which was achieved under his watch.
“If a politician thinks that his party can rule on his own, he is mistaken. Such a sizable parliament can only sustain through coalition and reconciliation, without which no government will survive. And without political stability, there would be no economic stability,” said Gilani. In each of the two sessions, across the board amongst the speakers the view was: the rule of law and adherence to the Constitution should be supreme, that democracy is essential, consensus should be built on the nomination of an election commissioner, the interim set up should take not more than 90 days and whichever regime comes to power in the next elections should be given a chance to form the government. Ahsan Iqbal, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MNA, said he has 400 percent belief in the supremacy of parliament, but all institutions are vying for power, and that included judiciary, media and parliament and it was for the government to define this new role for the parliament with “consensus”. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Waseem Akhtar said the direction the country was heading could “derail” democracy and the country. “Altaf Bhai has categorically said that institutions should not transgress their bounds. “Those who ask us to resign should resign from the Punjab government. “If the political parties have waited for four and a half years, they should wait for another seven months as well,” said Akhtar.
“With regards to the disqualification of the prime minister, all stakeholders in the country have reacted to the verdict keeping in view their own interests. However, international jurists have termed the action a ‘judicial coup,” said Pakistan Today Editor Arif Nizami. He also requested the lawyers “not to ban entry of lawyers in bar rooms on the basis of their clients, as even war prisoners are given a counsel”.
Ahsan Wayne of the Awami National Party said we are headed towards “judicial dictatorship”, which may lead to anarchy.
Prominent amongst the speakers included educationist Dr Muhammad Waseem, journalist Khaled Ahmed, TV anchorperson Iftikhar Ahmed and lawyer Hamid Khan.