Milords, should justice reek of enmity?

• And how unbridled power is always a prelude to disaster

Strange are our times for we understand nothing yet know everything. Strange is our curiosity for we look for answers of questions that do us no good. Strange is our vision for we refuse to see all the grey present in and around our black/white understanding of the world. Strange is our wisdom that seeks solace in parcelling out ‘exemplary justice’ without weeding out the root causes of our discontent. Strange are our ways for we aim to drag down heaven to earth while we turn our home into an inferno fit for Faustus.

I welcome you all, dearest sirs and ma’ams, to our land of the strange where hopes become despair, where every affection ends up poisoning its giver and its recipient, where tribalism holds sway over everything pristine, everything sublime in an individual.

Amidst all these realities and truths, our Honourable Lordships have handed down the ‘final’ verdict. They’ve thrown Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif out of the arena. The mighty five have also snatched his boxing gloves, told the ‘organisers’ that he be banished from the stadium as well, and lastly, made sure that Nawaz is packaged, boxed in, turned into a bundle, and ready to be dispatched either outside the country or inter him alive into a jail.

And they’ve done all of it as per the provisions of the law and the constitution. They acted in strict accordance with dictates of consciousness keeping in view the greater good of misery-stricken, poor, malnourished and neglected common man. Well, this is what they say. And that is not the whole truth. Rather it is the superficial and surface understanding one can glean from their remarks and judgments.

The Court under CJ Nisar reminds me of an old anecdote that says anger is very intelligent as it knows who can be subdued and terrified and in front of whom it must remain dormant and in check

What transpires in their heart of hearts, what end they are striving towards, and what motivates them and why this singular devotion to the cause of ‘gaveling out’ House of Sharif for many remains obvious and moral. And for the rest elusive and hidden, as for them it is crystal clear that behind the spick and span facade of justice, fair play, accountability and rule of law lies the wishes, orders and coercion by powers-that-be who rule the roost in our land.

The once silent, solemn and meek Supreme Court, famous for being the second fiddle to the person in power and approver of every incoming dictator, died the moment when CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry raised the banner of defiance against Mush. Chaudhry slayed the monster called Musharraf and, no surprise here, became the monster in his place. Chaudhary’s adrenaline-driven judicial activism remained issueless for three years and found its heir in the shape and guise of CJ Nisar.

And in what has become their signature pick and choose style, condemning the fall guy while being cowered by the holy cows. In its recent judgment SC held that khakis could not be removed from their service over non-disclosure of financial assets. While their Honourable Lordships had disqualified lawmakers for lifetime on the basis of same and identical offences. Perhaps justice is not as blind as we expect or suppose it to be.

Hasnaat Malik, a very seasoned Supreme Court reporter of Express Tribune, has aptly summed up the permanent disqualification verdict of SC: A murderer is qualified to contest election after five years but someone will be disqualified for life on the basis of just mere omission regarding assets details on his nomination papers.

Adding that it is for the parliament and not the courts to prescribe or attempt to give a time period for disqualification under Article 62 (1) (f) of the Constitution.

The Court under CJ Nisar reminds me of an old anecdote that says anger is very intelligent as it knows who can be subdued and terrified and in front of whom it must remain dormant and in check. Dearest sirs and ma’ams, the same perfectly fits on our Lordships. They know that everything is game if it concerns civvies, their wheeling and their dealings.

Alas, their feathers burn when the matter is about khakis or Maulanas hellbent to challenge state, jam its roads, and have their own way. Their seriousness in putting their own house in order can be amply gauged by the fact that all such initiatives are nowhere to be seen on ground. The direly needed reforms in the archaic laws and outdated regulations that govern the inner workings of judiciary are stuck in limbo.

Remember, the ancient Juvenal’s Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Who watches the watchmen). The answer, dearest sirs and ma’ams, is what everybody knows, hardly anyone utters, and no one dares question.

The question, however, lingers in the shadows. Historians of future will ask one simple question; Milords, why justice during your reign reeked of enmity and why some were spared while others were turned into pathetic examples?