Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry told one of the petitioners challenging the contempt of court Act 2012 not to link the matter with the prime minister as the NRO implementation case was already pending before he court while adding that the judiciary was trying to bring democracy back on track and that difficulties would smooth out in time.
I agreed with the CJ’s remarks because the majority of representatives in the assemblies have never studied the Constitution of Pakistan and in reality these representatives are no where near the true representatives of the masses. They do not represent the different segments of the society – majority of the people of Pakistan are living in rules areas, they are illiterate, poor and deprived of the basic necessities of life. The people they represent are the landlords, pirs, sardars and chaudhries. There are about 200 political families that have been ruling the country sine its inception. The more important question is if the PPP-led coalition also claims that it is protecting democracy, and the judiciary also claims to putting democracy back on track, then why have the two institutions been on opposite ends of the issue?
Why has the NRO implementation been the bone of contention between the executive and the judiciary? When the NRO was prepared by a uniformed government servant, ruling the country under the pressure of Uncle Sam and UK, was it made for restoring democratic rule in Pakistan?
Why has the Supreme Court not taken to task those responsible for making an unethical deal with the PPP leaders? Why is there no suo moto or petition against those who arrested the judges and humiliated them?
The PPP was always considered to be an anti-establishment party but it has learnt its lesson that anti-establishment politics is not going to allow them to survive in Pakistan. The present PPP government has been all out to please the US and the khakis to remain in power at the cost of their supporters and voters’ miseries.
In the land of the pure, the debate pertains to which state organ is supreme – the judiciary, parliament or the constitution? And who is sovereign? The people’s will? Such debates are useless because in reality, the power centre is still the establishment. To make the people the real power and democracy truly representative, we have to ensure that all state organs and institutions work within their ambit.
S T HUSSAIN
Lahore