- Now, Honourable Lordship, brace yourself for the long-awaited judgment
One nail drives out the other and that is how the world goes around, remarked Voltaire centuries back. He remained mum about the fate and future of the discarded nail. Being on zenith has only one downside, dear reader. You have to leave it, whether with aplomb or with derision. Once a person becomes a has-been, tongues once kept locked in their socket are freed. And the deluge of accusations, flurry of allegations, recounting of missed opportunities, pointing out of wrong decisions, and instances of overreach flood the legacy of person who has lived through his finest hour.
CJ Saqib Nisar, now former, is currently undergoing the above scrutiny from all and sundry. From raising dam fund to regulating fees of private schools, from raids at hospitals to censuring the behemoth property tycoon, former CJ was The Man whose remarks shaped many a cause, reshaped many a persons and ruined many a careers. A darling of media, he gave ample fodder for mass consumption by a populace too quick to believe in saviours and too impatient for miracles.
Former CJ Saqib Nisar was man of many antics. Suo motu notices of funerals passing through litter, regularising and making it mandatory for ChingChi rickshaws to have licenses, halting construction of grid station in place of a park, commenting on indecent dresses and vulgar dances in award shows are just some instances where he grabbed space, headlines, pixels and attention of great many. Paying little to no heed that all such theatrics were beyond his expertise, below his stature and out of his domain.
Under the sword of millions of pending cases and amidst Herculean task of reforming judiciary so that it can deliver Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and his brothers in gowns hogged the limelight. Supreme Court, under CJ Nisar, had shed the aloofness and silence that dawned upon it after times, decrees and deeds of former CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry. Finally, the people have something and someone to compare and contrast with Chaudhary Court.
As I’ve mentioned in my previous columns, the Big Marble Palace brims and will keep on brimming with life, litigants, chatter, journos, khudai khidmatgars, policemen in hiding, Dr Doom, state ministers who’ve said things they shouldn’t have uttered along with good folks who’ve reached the top court after their long, arduous walk through subordinate and higher courts in their quest for justice. All of them are as sad and sordid as their desires, wishes and hopes that dashed to the ground. With 1.8 million pending cases before courts of all tier in the country, the dam of another kind is direly needed.
Historians of future will ask one simple question; CJ Nisar, why justice during your reign reeked of enmity and why some were spared while others were turned into pathetic examples?
Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa aims to change realities of his fellow men through prompt judgments, quick and timely disposal of cases at lower tiers, trashing frivolous litigation, weeding out corrupt elements from their ranks, filling thousands of positions in lower judiciary, ensuring that Supreme Judicial Council decides pending references against justices accused of corruption and malpractices and streamlining the whole legal system so that it can deliver justice sans fear or favour.
The decisions we make end up making us. We attain nirvana, if they turn out right. We rot alive, if and when we misjudge and miscalculate. It is true for an individual as well as for those whose job it is to adjudicate the earthly affairs of mortal men. We are our choices, wrote Jean Paul Sartre, a French philosopher half a century back. The erudite, learned Lordships must be acutely aware and conscientious of the axiom that pleases as well as haunts. It’s been less than a week and legacy of CJ Nisar is under siege. How it will be translated five or ten years down the line? Will it meet the same fate like Chaudhary Court that led us to where we are or will it usher a new era? The jury is out.
The question, however, lingers in the shadows; what happened during your reign was your madness or there was some power’s method to it? Historians of future will ask one simple question; CJ Nisar, why justice during your reign reeked of enmity and why some were spared while others were turned into pathetic examples?
So long, CJ Saqib Nisar. And thanks for making us forget CJ Iftikhar.