The court has asked the new PM to make it clear by 12th of July if he is going to write to the Swiss government. This confrontation has to end or this all will turn into a disaster. Unfortunately, the PPP can’t play a major role in surrendering completely since it is a political party with emotional voters to take care of and it is the judiciary who seems to be in an attacking mode. By saying attacking mode, I don’t wish to be held in contempt of the judges but it is a matter of few months only that the new government is ushered in after the elections, when the much needed Swiss action on their behalf can be affected without leaving a bad taste in the mouth. After all, we have waited for the whole of 65 years…a few months won’t bring the skies down.
Most of the analysts believe, with or without much logic, that the PPP can’t earn the martyrdom status they wish for even if SC keeps on disqualifying their prime ministers one after the other. If that be the case, why have we started hearing voices even though not so assuring, casting unflattering shadows on the role of the judiciary and its adamant activism. After all, it has only been less than four years since their restoration after a heroic movement and no unsavoury practices have been detected ever since in the higher halls of justice?
For the SC, respect for its decisions is much more important than their ability to get them implemented, which may prove to be another bugger’s muddle. The initial outburst against it accusing it of being Sharif Court instead of Supreme Court wasn’t as bad as the silent whispers we hear these days about it deliberately or unconsciously paving the path for yet another army take over.
I say ‘unconsciously’ because I find a lot of convincing arguments that the courts wants to deal evenhandedly with both the civil and military arms of the government but the military is better placed to twist their arm to create some space for themselves. Moreover, I’m inclined to believe that the military had more of a hand in the Malik Riaz fiasco (which took place just six months before the termination of this government) as it had more to gain from it than the PPP. It makes no sense for the clever-by-a-half contractor and the inept PPP government to risk more of the SC’s ire when all they have is, by popular estimates, less than half a year to sink. The SC has talked about summoning the army chief regarding the missing persons. If neither the PPP, nor the army is behind this ill-fated Dr Arsalan case, then it stands to reason that the 36 odd outstanding Bahria cases may have been the sole cause. But still, even if it was just to put the CJ on the back foot, it is the army top brass that the magician land developer has a partnership with through the DHA.
Those not so happy with the judiciary these days argue that the judges restoration movement was against Musharraf’s decision to unconstitutionally sack them, not against his dictatorship. Had they been against his dictatorship, they wouldn’t have taken the oath on PCO in the first place. With this, they try to augment their stance the judges are power hungry and not concerned about the dire state the country is in.
The situation with government should never go to a point where the SC will need to look to other power players for help. The image building of military doctors coming for the replacement of their protesting civilian counterparts does not portend well for the country. The military has already wrested the case of the three NLC generals from NAB since 2010. The case of railway land under army occupation is not to be returned but the rent paid by the latter again is a favourable one for the army. We are only aware of fact the Royal Palm Golf Club land worth billions was sold for a pittance to or through the army. But Wapda has also alleged that huge tracts of its land are under the army’s control. Who would be more in favour of the Supreme Court than the majority of the common people that includes us, for accountability to be across the board and not just the measly $60m holding up the state to ransom? Many hundreds of millions of dollars that the Sharif family creamed off in the Motorways and other contracts also need going into. We wish all the luck to this CJ and his team and pray he clears up the country of rampant corruption without undue harm to the system, good or bad.
The writer is a member of the band Beygairat Brigade.