- And the CJ’s attention
Finally, with just three months or so left before his retirement, the honourable chief justice has turned his attention to the matter of judicial (rather judges’) incapacity. Perhaps he’s been just too busy sorting out everything that is wrong with the country, but on the way he gave the impression that he wasn’t much disturbed by the way our courts dispense justice. Yet last Friday he lamented the broken down position of the country’s justice delivery system, and even admitted that judges do not always justify the Rs50,000 or so that are spent on them daily.
His position on judicial hooliganism is also welcome. Yet while he did not bow to pressure from junior black coats, there was the sad sight of lawyers shouting shaming slogans inside the honourable Supreme Court. Would the CJ have allowed, say, a group of journalists to protest in a similar manner within the court premises? Surely the matter of lawyers taking the law into their own hands, and demanding a verdict of their choice from the chief justice no less, is what was actually shameful about the whole episode. And despite CJ Nisar’s tough stand (nothing less, by the way, is expected of any chief justice), it did not look as if his fellow lawyers will take his advice and not repeat such behaviour in future.
When the chief justice goes from hospital to public school to checking utensils in canteens he is, in his own capacity, ensuring that people get justice. But if the house of justice itself sidesteps that basic responsibility, the entire exercise loses its punch somewhat. One of Pakistan’s problems, along with the shattered economy, is an ineffective justice system that has, over time, fed the criminal and starved the righteous more often than not. If CJ Saqib Nisar can do something about this little irritant in the next three months, he’d have really given the country something tangible – maybe more so than a dam.
