Toeing the line of a Liar

By Amjad Malik,

As a lawyer and of Pakistani origin I have a great faith in the role of judiciary in the national development of Pakistan by paving the way for true democracy in Pakistan as the role of said judiciary was missing in most of the coup de tats and the nexus was fatal for the state. However, Mr. Bokhari in his article of 25 September 2007 published in the News, is very careless when mentioning the kissing of hands of Chief Justice by Qazi in his article as the role of some other intellectuals like him is quite to the contrary.

He also though did not say it himself but quoted cleverly from here and there to a credit to sharifs for attacks on judiciary in Sajjad Ali Shah's court, though the matter has been seen by two separate judicial enquiries and sharifs were not nailed in any one, even by Irshad Hassan Khan one of the patriots of General Musharraf however evidence is quite to the contrary when we see the convicted of such attacks sitting as Ministers, advisors and members of Musharraf's Parliament.  One thing which can be drawn as a lesson from rowdy's created by the crowd outside the premises of SC in the era of sharifs is that Prime Minister of the time himself attended on call of SC, he waited in the waiting area whilst SC adjourned the matter till after lunch whilst Madeline Albright Foreign Secretary of the super power of the world was in town. At least Prime Minister of its time set a tradition of accountability yet to be seen by the current regime and he showed respect to the court and attended the court as summoned.

Quite to the contrary his own favourite Pinochet of Pakistan which he not at all mentioned even once in his article gave in on the first warming of Richard Armitage and accepted the whole of the shopping list of aiding the bombardment of his fellow Muslim brethrens and tarnishing their independent integrity in Afghanistan.  He did not even like to mention that in his reign, PCO was introduced and 5 SC judges were made to go home, CJ Siddiqui was made subject to house arrest when he refused to take oath whilst the case against coup was pending, duly elected President Tarar was sacked, an other CJ was bullied, sworn at, and intimidated in the presence of sitting full of stars generals, he was confined upon his refusal to resign, his children along with him were house arrested, no medicine, no school in a house incommunicado without legal representations and he did not even think its near an attack on judiciary. His open letter was part of the reference upon which chief justice was nailed and he thinks that public must hail Mr. Bokhari as a hero for playing ping pong in the hands of military rulers, is not possible in this life.

Whilst condemning the acts to take the clothes of Mr. Bukhari off in Rawalpindi is condemnable,  however, at the same time, those so called chums who wish to act as intermediary agents of the regime to provide services as devil's advocate must be aware of the public sentiments whilst they volunteer as foot soldiers which always go against those who argue for their brief in support of an unpopular military man devoid of legality. It will be highly unlikely that millions of supporters of those individual parties or cause will  welcome those few after their fatal remarks with flowers as tolerance level is not that high yet in Pakistan and one reaps as one sows for being a devil's advocate in the end. I have always heard the famous folk saying in my childhood that 'liars face turns black'. In this context Mr. Sharifuddin Pirzada the magician lawyer and S M Zafar are noteworthy as they never go out of their brief  

Reality in Pakistan is that people of Pakistan are not at all after petrol price reduction or cheap electricity as poor and needy who do not drive cars and have no shelter in which electricity light bulbs are only worried that in a country called Pakistan their self respect is not intact so as the nation's,  and rule of law and justice are no where seen especially from the fresh example of defying court orders in sharifs of which I was an eye witness. How can a poor sees the light in the end of a tunnel is a key question of which we will have to find an answer together. They are dejected where prime ministers are chained, arrested, locked, and exiled extra judicially unlike our rival India, chief justices hair are pulled and they are tried like common criminals  and in return Chief justice begs justice in his own court. where political Jamali is sent home without charge on a prime minister interval in a national  assembly allowing a banker to get elected only to become prime minister, then there will be only one talk military free democracy. 

Naeem though used to be my favourite anchor for being quite witty and funny but for being very economical with the truth, for bringing his personal vendetta against sharifs ignoring the bigger picture, and for writing a letter against Chief Justice he has lost his respect in my eyes.  

Amjad Malik is a Solicitor-Advocate of the Supreme Court of England & Wales and a chair of Association of Pakistani Lawyers (UK)