PML-N has revealed its intent
The shoe is now on the other foot. And how it pinches! Only a few months ago, the PPP was beaten up by the suo motu stick and the PML-N was cock-a-hoop. Now when its own questionable decisions on critical appointments have been struck down by the Supreme Court, it is opposed to it. Mostly been on the right side of judiciary – mollycoddled and handled with kid gloves forever – this is uncharted territory for the PML-N and it is quite visibly uneasy. Though a subject of debate for its overreach amongst the judicial figures and prominent lawyers, and some scathing criticism from noted jurists here and abroad, the judicial activism of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was not just most welcome for but also egged on by the PML-N rank and file as long as the target was its nemesis Asif Ali Zardari and the PPP. In the infamous Memogate affair, Mian Nawaz Sharif personally sought Supreme Court’s intervention to implicate its own former media henchman in what turned out to be a lot of fuss for nothing, though it put the PPP in some spot of bother.
Though still not pushing on the follow-up of its verdict in the ignominiously delayed Asghar Khan case, now when the apex court has annulled some of the key appointments made by Nawaz Sharif dispensation, it is feeling hot under the collar. Particularly embarrassing for it were those in PIA etc. Now quietly waiting to see Justice Iftikhar’s back in the middle of December, it has let things drift, pussyfooting on scores of appointments in top positions in public sector enterprises and other government organizations. The giveaway was the assurance given to the IMF with regard to power sector reforms, an imperative for which were the appointments in distribution companies. “The recent record of interventions by the Supreme Court in economic and administrative issues may be another source of uncertainty,” is a comment from the IMF but it was prompted by the government’s report.
Its detractors have pilloried the government for its intent to wait out the CJ’s retirement before handing out the positions to what is euphemistically dubbed as its own ‘Mamnoons’! Will the apex court be any different after CJ’s departure in December? In case it is not, will the PML-N bristle similarly to how it reacted in the 1990s? In any case, it is about time it made up its mind on suo moto and its efficacy in providing relief and reining in graft, incompetence, nepotism and favouritism.
