COMMENT: The video that shook Pakistan Syed Mansoor Hussain
By establishing a bench to look into the matter and demanding production of the victim in the court, the CJ has done the right thing. The unfortunate fact though is that it is extremely unlikely that any branch of the government of Pakistan has the ability or even desire to fulfil the orders of the honourable court
The Honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan has taken suo moto notice of the flogging of a young woman in Swat. That is a good thing for sure.
I had waited patiently for the CJ to take notice of the fact that a part of the country over whose judicial system he presides functions outside the law. I waited equally patiently for the leaders of the lawyers movement and their allies in the world of politics to do the same.
It was disappointing when the Long March ended in Gujranwala. I had hoped that having achieved the restoration of CJ Chaudhry, the marchers would have gone straight on to Swat. If indeed the real purpose behind the Long March was restoration of the rule of law, then what better place to bring that message to than the valley under sway of Taliban-style justice.
Just imagine Mian Nawaz Sharif leading a caravan that included Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan and his lawyers, Qazi Hussain Ahmad and his Jamaat-e Islami, members of the Sunni Tehreek, and Mr Imran Khan all by his magnificent lonesome self riding into Swat demanding the restoration of the aforementioned rule of law. Even the most hardened Talib would have shuddered in awe at such star power. But it was not to be.
Now comes the horrific video of a young woman being flogged in public. The inhuman treatment meted out to women in the Land of the Pure has been documented often enough, but then a picture is worth pages covered with black ink and a video commands immediate and total attention. The whole world had seen the video on the Internet before it was shown on Pakistani TV. Whatever motives might be imputed to the TV channels for showing the video, it did succeed in catching the attention of the high and mighty of the land, including the honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan.
By establishing a bench to look into the matter and demanding production of the victim in the court, the CJ has done the right thing. The unfortunate fact though is that it is extremely unlikely that any branch of the government of Pakistan has the ability or even desire to fulfil the orders of the honourable court. And sadly, the court, as Stalin once said of the Pope, has no legions of its own. In essence, all the CJ and his court have to offer is moral suasion in this matter.
But then moral suasion might not be all bad. Leaders of most major political parties, including Mian Nawaz Sharif, have in the wake of the CJs action come out and forcefully condemned the flogging. Perhaps we might finally see all the moderate political parties getting together around the issue of preventing Pakistan from slip sliding towards Talibanisation. Before anything else is done, it is imperative that the young woman shown in the video is located and placed in a secure environment.
As I have said before, Mian Nawaz Sharif is the right person to help mobilise public opinion in the struggle against the impending Talibanisation of Pakistan. He has impeccable Islamist credentials, is a popular leader and has developed into a forceful public speaker. If Mian sahib indeed decides to lead this particular fight, he will definitely be remembered by history as a great benefactor of Pakistan. Whether or not he becomes prime minister again will then be of little consequence.
Having led the fight for the restoration of the CJ, Mian sahib has already established his credentials as someone who now believes in the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. And by leading the fight against religious extremism, he will also undo the harm he did to his reputation by trying to pass the 15th Amendment. Here I will freely admit that I have no idea if Mian sahib is even remotely interested in taking on such a challenge.
An important point, however, is that there does exist a considerable undertow of sympathy for Taliban-style justice in the hearts if not the minds of many Pakistanis. This is because of a lack of access to justice and an abiding sense of helplessness that ordinary people feel when confronted by a high handed and frequently uncaring bureaucracy, a corrupted legal system and an equally corrupt but entirely ineffectual police force.
It is in this context that the Honourable Chief Justice can provide the greatest benefit. He has already established that he is willing to stand up against the powerful. Now he has to make sure that ordinary people can also do the same and have the protection of the courts when they do so. More importantly, he should try and reform the lower judiciary to provide Pakistanis access to justice and not just to adjudication based upon financial wherewithal.
There is an idea that might or might not be relevant to this discussion. It is about the circuit courts in the US. Originally, members of the US Supreme Court used to ride the circuit. This meant that Supreme Court Justices travelled to the lower courts in their circuit or assigned areas and considered cases alongside local judges. Not a bad way to keep an eye on what goes on in the lower courts.
Finally, a total digression: I would like to welcome back Mian Shahbaz Sharif as Chief Minister Punjab. It seems that during his most recent forced absence from the Chief Ministers Secretariat, he has developed a taste for the poetry of Habib Jalib. I hope that he will also read Jalibs poem Musheer (Advisor) every so often. That will surely make it possible for him to maintain strict objectivity about the quality of and the motives behind the advice he receives from his advisors.
Syed Mansoor Hussain has practised and taught medicine in the US. He can be reached at
smhmbbs70@yahoo.com
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