Objection, My Lord!

Why the flowers only for Hamid Mir?

Your Excellency holds the top-most office in the country, that too of dispensing with justice to the deprived and the down-trodden. Your Lordship has earned unprecedented respect and honour that no chief justice in the world has ever dreamed of. Your Honour reinvigorated the hopes of the oppressed and the aggrieved to the level that no one felt himself sans justice. Your Highness stood against every force bent upon damaging democracy and the state institutions. We the Pakistanis would never have imagined such a scrupulous, meticulous and conscientious chief justice that Your Lordship has turned out into.

Whether it was the issue of Steel Mills or Railways, missing persons in Balochistan or law and order situation in Karachi, the inflated prices of CNG or the petroleum products, the supremacy of law or defending the constitution, and whether it was the matter of agencies’ aggression or transgression, everything was dealt in accordance with the law and in true spirit of justice.

This all, My Lord, became possible only because of you. Endless examples of suo motu cases are to your credit for the betterment and integrity of the country. Conducting of next general elections under the supervision of judicial officers through your consent will prove another momentous decision in strengthening the true spirit of our feeble democracy in the country.

Every observation made by Your Majesty’s office has the full force of law. Newspapers across the country carry every word of yours as headlines on front pages. And readers find their self-confidence bolstered thinking they might get some amount of looted money back to the national exchequer from the corrupt atop. Thy Majesty’s landmark judgments have put the democracy onto strong footings, thereby letting the people have a great political treasure in the future. Notwithstanding all such historic achievements, Your Honour, I have just one question, with all due respect. Why did Hamid Mir get a special treatment, given special prestige and honour, and received a bouquet of flowers given by Your Lordship?

True, he has earned good name and fame through his profession. Any attempt of killing a Pakistani must be condemned in the strongest possible terms irrespective of how higher the status he enjoys. This we should do for Mr Mir as well who is doing a great job just as well as thousands of other journalists and professionals are doing in the country.

Though naïve in legal matters, I have been an ardent supporter of the black coats’ movement. I have as much grave concerns over the future of the country as Your Lordship has being the Chief Justice of Pakistan.

But your acts have bruised my feelings and hurt me deeply. Why were the flowers sent only to Hamid Mir and not to thousands of other journalists who fell ill, wounded, died and perished in terror attacks, that too when Mr Mir himself is a petitioner against the information ministry in a case lying pending before the Supreme Court?

No doubt Your Honour has maintained beyond any doubt equiponderance in all cases as is demanded and expected of a judge as per Article 1 of the Code of Conduct for the Judges of the Superior Judiciary in its letter and spirit.

I must openly acknowledge, as the record of yours office reveals, that you are God-fearing, law-abiding, abstemious, truthful of tongue, wise in opinion, cautious and forbearing, blameless, and untouched by greed. But the Article II of the said conduct says that a judge must ensure ‘balance, complete detachment for the formation of correct conclusions in all matters coming before him’. Moreover, a judge must ‘maintain an equal aspect towards all litigants as well as lawyers appearing before him’. Also that he must be ‘above reproach, and for this purpose to keep his conduct in all things, official and private, free from impropriety, is expected of a Judge (Article III).’

Your Honour, this is what you and your colleagues working in the superior judiciary are expected of. Nothing more, nothing less.

In Mr Mir’s case, some feelings, no matter the highest standard of morality may have demanded this, has been shown and expressed openly by Your Lordship for the ‘petitioner’. He (Mr Mir) should have been treated like any other aggrieved party by approach Your Lordship. The philosophy of detachment and seclusion for dispensing with justice, if violated, can hardly keep any judge ‘above reproach’. Inquiring after some one’s health and sending him bouquets by all definitions do touch the boundary of socialisation if they do not completely come within the ambit of socialisation. And which, My Lord, can prejudice a judge for or against the party appearing before him.

Though being above reproach is quite an impossible task while dealing with a high-profile cases, that too of political nature. But what can stop all this from happening is the cautious attitude of judges to keep their conduct free from impropriety. And the bonafide violation on Thy Majesty’s part drew hard criticism by the executive as the respondent, Qamar Zaman Kaira, promptly reacted against it and cast aspersions on Your Lordship’s act. Through he said it in a subtle manner but the people got the message he intended to convey, thus materialising the consequences which the code of conduct has epitomised in its text.

Who else better knows than Your Majesty that all are equal before law and every citizen is equally entitled constitutionally to enjoy all basic rights guaranteed to him by the constitution. A commoner in the open sky in severe chill outside the Supreme Court has as much the same rights towards Your Lordship as did Mr Mir and vice versa. More than anything else, the missing persons case, and many others indeed, are in need of your attention.

My Lord, justice is deaf, dumb, indifferent, callous, and has no commiseration for sobbing, bawling and wailing but for the supremacy of law. Justice is blind and sees all people equally whether it is you or an aggrieved person on hunger strike outside Your Majesty’s court or Hamid Mir. All are equal before law and all must be treated so.

The writer is a staff member and can be reached at [email protected]