Understanding Pakistan Project

Athar Osama July 20th, 2007

By: Athar Osama

The Supreme Court of Pakistan announced a historic verdict just after 2pm (July 20, 2007) today. In a unanimous verdict the Court, headed by Justice Khalil ur Rahman Ramday, re-instated the suspended Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary and with a 10-3 verdict threw out the Presidential reference against him. This culminates one of the most epic constitutional battles in the history of Pakistan–second only perhaps to Maulvi Tamizuddin Khan vs. Federation of Pakistan case.

The thirteen member full bench that was constituted for the purpose of this case comprised Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi, Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan, Justice M Javed Buttar, Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jillani, Justice Saiyed Saeed Ashhad, Justice Nasirul Mulk, Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed, Justice Ch Ijaz Ahmed, Justice Syed Jamshed Ali, Justice Hamid Ali Mirza and Justice Ghulam Rabbani. Indeed, these honorable justices deserve our kudos and thanks for carrying out their duty of protecting the constitution against arbitrary action with such dignity and sense of duty. In doing so, the justices also showed the maturity of the Court that their predecessors had failed to demonstrate during the illegal and unconstitutional ouster of an earlier CJP Justice Sajjad Ali Shah.  

Just prior to the announcement of the short decision, when the Court was going into recess for the Friday prayers, Justice Ramday expressed his thanks to both the sides and said that the short order on the case would be announced today. He expressed the hope that if any person or organization gets disturbed by our decision, then he or it should not loose control and if anyone gets pleased by the verdict, then he should remember the God and practicing Sunnat-e-Rasool (PBH) offer two Rikat Nafil prayer.

It took over 4 months for the Supreme Court to undo the wrong that had been done to Pakistan’s judicial system by one man’s egotistical decision to tamper with it. General Pervaiz Musharraf, had he been wise enough not to have damanged Pakistan so much, should have taken back the reference several months ago knowing fully well that the reference against the CJP would not stand the test. He did not, and in doing so, he purposefully chose to throw the country into deep judicial and political turmoil. Just prior to the verdict, a Musharraf government advisor had stated that the government will respect the decision of the court. It remains to be seen if it actually does respect the sanctity of the Court and its decisions or tries to subvert the constitution yet again under one pretext or another. 

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said the government accepted the Supreme Court’s decision to reinstate the country’s top judge but added it was “not the time to claim victory or defeat.”

“I have just learnt of the Supreme Court decision. I have always maintained that the decision by the honourable court must be accepted by all sections of the people including the government itself,” Aziz said in a statement.

“This is not the time to claim victory or defeat. The constitution and the law have prevailed and must prevail at all times,” he added. 

With the verdict of the Court today, the independence of the judiciary may have been bumped a notch higher in Pakistan. This is perhaps only the first of the many battles that judiciary will have to fight against both forces from outside and inside to regain the honor and dignity that it deserves. However, with this victory for judiciary in Pakistan, the battle for the people’s constitutional rights have just begun.

The Chaudhary Court has some momentuous decisions in front of it as it attempts to uphold the constitution of Pakistan under the most trying of the circumstances. One of the several speculations about why Musharraf had moved against Chaudhary in the first place had to do with the Court’s move towards greater independence from the current government in the Steel Mill case, its actions to bring relief to the people were “disappeared” by the government over the years, and on the constitutionality of the present political set-up.

 In the coming weeks and months, the Chaudhary Court may be asked to rule upon subjects as important as:

- The validity of the Electoral Rolls prepared by the ”independent” Election Commission of Pakistan that has created a furor among the opposition parties in Pakistan,

- The attempt General Musharraf to get himself elected by the current assemblies before their tenure is over,

- The likely attempt by General Musharraf to delay elections either on the pretext of the deteriorating law and order situation within the country or by imposing emergency and suspending the constitution,

- The very constitutionality of   General Musharraf’s dual-appointments as President and Chief of Army Staff, given that the Constitution explicitly forbids the President of Pakistan to hold another office of profit, and

- The blow-back resulting from General Musharraf’s recent actions against the Lal Masjid and the allegations that he sabotaged the negotiations with the clerics in the Lal Masjid.

I believe we are heading towards some interesting times. Only time will tell whether, and how, the Chaudhary Court, given its new-found independence, will be able to exercise its judgement to steer to the country away from these challenges and towards constitutionality and political stability in the future.

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[As the details of the verdict emerge, we will update this post to include a complete chronology of how the CJP case unfolded. Please visit this often to keep abreast of the developments - Ed]

• Justice Chaudhary , General Musharraf , 2007 , Constitution