The inaugural session of 5th Islamabad Literary Festival titled, ‘Judiciary and the Common Man’ brought together dissenting voices as some panelists differed that the term ‘common man’ is misleading.
Bushra Gohar of ANP, one of the panelists, during the discussion said that in a democracy there were citizens and no common or special man.
The session hit a snag as Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani, who was the chief guest of the session, couldn’t make it to the venue due to the episode in the Senate on Friday morning after he postponed the Senate session and threatened to resign due to non-serious attitude of senators and ministers. He excused himself from attending the ILF session.
Hamid Khan, notable jurist and advocate Supreme Court took his place along with Senator Afrasiab Khattak, Senator Bushra Gohar, former diplomat Ashraf Jehangir Qazi and Barrister Huma. The session was moderated by senior journalist Mujahid Barelvi.
Before the commencement of the session a brief documentary titled ‘Invisible People’ was shown, the documentary was named after the short story collection by the same name by Senate chairman published few weeks ago.
Senator Afrasiab Khattak speaking on the occasion said that Pakistan has a relatively new legislature that it got in the wake of independence. ‘Our administration is old, centuries old and it has decided to keep us subjects and not citizens. Many believe that doctrine of necessity is dead, I say it is very much alive,’ he said adding that there are defacto rulers and there are de jure rulers. The difference between them is clear,’ he concluded. Rabble
While expressing his views, Hamid Khan said that injustice started with administration and ended up all the way with judiciary. ‘We need to ask whether the last recourse namely judiciary has resources and manpower at its disposal to dispense justice in a speedy manner,’ he said.
‘We have darbari mindset till today. I never expect justice from judiciary, all I expect are dates. It is because of this that we as a nation are going towards vigilantism,’ said Senator Bushra Gohar of Awami National Party. She stressed that till there were those who were holy and those who were rabble, justice will remain impossible.
While speaking, Jehangir Ashraf Qazi said that it was widely said that judiciary and army were left intact. ‘I say that they are part and parcel of the greater picture, if one looks closely,’ he said adding that it was not the PM who was on trial in Panama case, it was judiciary.
Barrister Huma, who has practiced law for 20 years in UK said that abroad every citizen was equal and there was no discrimination. ‘In Pakistan a PM is reluctant to resign in the midst of allegations and accusations, while Cameroon resigned not because of any crime he committed, but because he took a wrong decision that led to Brexit,’ she said.
The panelists agreed that the problem was larger than judiciary and mere suo motos would not weed out the problem and a wide range of reforms were the only way out. The Islamabad Literary Festival will conclude on Sunday.
