The face-off between House of Sharif and judiciary is getting edgy by the day
Through literature and excerpts from fiction one can surely say what one desires to utter but couldn’t otherwise. And beloved Justice Asif Saeed Khosa knew it well and executed it in the best manner possible
We all, dearest sirs and ma’ams, wait for something or someone. And while at it, many of us pray. Some of our prayers get answered, many don’t. We keep at it, nonetheless. At present, however, it seems our some waits will soon be over, our many prayers will be answered. Their Lordships of Big Marble Palace patiently wait for a final report, lions desperately wait for some miracle, Khanistas anxiously wait for their turn at helm of affairs, babus wait for their bets to be true, and every Tom, Dick and Harry has his own wait to worship.
Let us start with their Lordships, during the hearing they seemed unimpressed (read unconvinced) about the plethora of documents that were submitted, fatuously intriguing arguments that were given by both the petitioners’ and respondents’ counsels and theatrical from both side of the aisle.
Their sole solace? The scathy remarks they made, that became the stock fodder for vitriolic media talks, and were repeated again and again during rallies and gatherings.
Once done, the hopes intermingled with aspirations ensued and finally the judgment arrived. And we paid heed to the catchy, interesting, piercing, subtle and quotable lines from it. Majority judgment was un-poetic, thus barely heard or read or quoted. Minority judgment was lyrical, thus widely cherished.
We loved the sublime, lofty and prolific while we had to accept the prosaic and the plain.
Through literature and excerpts from fiction one can surely say what one desires to utter but couldn’t otherwise. And beloved Justice Asif Saeed Khosa knew it well and executed it in the best manner possible.
While, the things have been shaky, and jumpy. Our PM remains PM. No matter how one translates the judgment, no matter how ferociously pundits indulged in pettifogging and uninformed hair splitting, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif stands. The reason to celebrate? The judgment didn’t send him home. The thing to worry? The JIT went haywire within weeks into investigation.
On the other side of fence, a cut-throat opposition, as the phrase implies, hankers after what so-called corrupt to the bone government has i.e., power. Not at all an entirely Pakistani phenomenon, all over the world opposition is defined by the emotions of envy and frustration. Finally, sharing something with the world at large, it feels nice.
Last year during July, much claims were pronounced and blames made in the aftermath of so-called Panama Papers by opposition parties. One among them was the formation of Commission to look into the matter
I seriously don’t know why, but a dictum in the jurisprudence goes thus: ‘Accused is the most favourite child of law and benefit of doubt goes to him,’ keeps on making rounds in my head. The boot-N-league-out-of-the-arena plan seems to lose legs and air once one solemnly ponders over the maxim. Meaning thereby that the gang of earnest do-gooders is up against the most favourite child of law.
Even the non-Christians have heard the impressive tale of Jesus saving an adulterous by revealing the sinner in each and everyone of us. In our times, where our sins are ‘shortcomings of minor nature’, ‘personal matters’ and ‘minor imperfections’ while same in others are ‘forbidden vices’, ‘acts against nature’ and ‘heinous crimes’, justice can be summed up in an aphoristic line by Samuel Johnson: ‘Justice is me being allowed to do whatever I like. Injustice is whatever prevents my doing so’.
IK’s is all for justice. House of Sharif chants the same mantra. Both have forgotten the sins they are guilty of and thus ready to stone each other.
Last year during July, much claims were pronounced and blames made in the aftermath of so-called Panama Papers by opposition parties. One among them was the formation of Commission to look into the matter. When government gave its consent, the opposition thundered for the Terms of Reference (TORs) that were to delineate the extent of commission. When the government okayed that only then came the ulterior intent to the fore, our opposition was aiming, all along, to eliminate PM from the power equation. A picture perfect example of removing the one on top so that one can be on top. The chanting of almighty dicta of Truth, Accountability or Justice was nothing but a smokescreen to a minus-one setup cleverly devised by opposition, the question is, whether it will pay off or it won’t.
Since we started with the prayers, someone has already said a truly sublime thing about them. Meet Truman Capote, American novelist, journalist and screenwriter who witnessed something shattering about answered prayers. ‘More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones’ he writes in one of his novels. Read the quote again, allow it to sink in, ponder about it every now and then.
Nobody, trust me, nobody for sure knows what is in the offing for the House of Sharif. Also, hardly anyone is certain about the future of Imran Khan and his revolutionary cabal that has recently graduated from being an NGO to a political party with ample electables.
Soon we’ll see the folks shedding tears over answered prayers and those whose unanswered prayers will remain so till it is their turn to shed some.