When I heard that the government planned to pass an ordinance for Red Zone to deal with the threat of the jalsa on 30th November, it made me do some research on how and why laws should be made and what ideological foundations Pakistan’s legal system stands on. I think laws ought to justly facilitate the co-existence of freely living individuals, but Pakistan’s laws usually attempt to sap the freedom and diminish any accountability of the rulers. Famous French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote that laws were to protect and promote the general-will of the people while restricting the selfish-will and harmful freedom. However, in the case of Pakistan, the legislation and execution seems overwhelmingly dominated by selfish motives of the rulers to secure and prolong their rules.
President Ayub, in the 1962 constitution, PM Bhutto, through the 1973 constitution and the first six amendments, President Zia, in the 8th amendment, President Musharraf, in the 17th amendment, and PM Nawaz Sharif, in the 13th Amendment of the 1973 constitution, attempted to increase their powers and lessen the accountability checks on them.
They used the veil of laws to become Hobbesian Leviathan which is above the law and cannot be held accountable. Similarly, in many blasphemy cases, including the Kot Radha Kishan case, last year’s burning of Joseph Colony in Lahore and many others, a misuse of the law for achieving personal/selfish goals or objectives is noticed. The recent news about an ordinance related to 30th November rally is also based on similar objectives. The rumours of an expected ordinance that may preclude a gathering of more than five people in Red Zone as a tactic against the 30th November rally, if true, is a shameful use of the legal system and reflects an undemocratic motive of the rulers simply to save their rule.
This means Pakistan’s legal system lacks a strong philosophical foundation required to prevent it from being misused. However, this needs to change for the better future of the country and its people.
MUHAMMAD OMER ASLAM
Lahore