Iftikhar’s “Jaan Nisars” extract a price from courts
The best choice for Sher Zaman Qureshi, President Multan Bar Association, was to appear before the Lahore High Court and apologise for his behaviour. Not only did he fail to turn up, his group resorted to violence, dislodged an iron-grill gate to try to break into the courtroom of the CJ. The attempt was thwarted by the anti-riot police which used tear gas and water cannon to force the protesters out of the court premises. The protesters were demanding that the order to arrest Qureshi be immediately withdrawn and the court proceedings against him terminated.
There are several reasons for the malaise prevailing in a section of the lawyers’ community which frequently resorts to violence. At the level of lower judiciary, the lawyers, judges and the court staff are often linked together in the same chain of corruption. The judges thus lose their stature in the eyes of the lawyers. Members of the higher judiciary have been found to be delivering judgments dictated by the military or civilian rulers. Politicians praise judiciary when it delivers a verdict in their favour but take recourse to the ‘court of the people’ to malign the judges in case of an adverse judgment. The lawyers have developed a sense of power after their successful movement for the restoration of independent judiciary. For quite some time the higher judiciary looked the other way as its black robed soldiers attacked unaccommodating judicial officers in the lower courts.
The lawyers are supposed to argue their case. It is highly inappropriate on their part to attack the courts or beat up policemen. Office bearers of lawyers’ elected bodies have failed to rein in the negative tendencies in their voters for fear of losing their support. There is a need on the part of senior lawyers to intervene to restore the dignity of their profession. Any display of weakness by the High Court in this case, would make judiciary a permanent hostage to lawless elements. What needs to be understood is that unless corruption is eradicated from the courts, the judges will continue to have an image problem.
