Pakistan is fighting a battle for its independence. Yet again...
And the person who started it all – The ‘non-functional’ Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhury.
Summoned by President Musharraf for alleged malpractices and misuse of his position. Sacked for challenging the government for its wrong doings and the innumerable human rights violations. He was beginning to become a pain for the Prez. Sack him. End of story.
But how wrong he was. Since things happened a little differently than what he had fathomed.
Chaudhury was asked to renege his post as Chief Justice but refused to do so. He was kept under captivity for several hours at the Army House where he was summoned, before being allowed to leave. Thence he was kept under virtual house arrest with him and his family being confined to a single room. Phone lines were cut. No one was allowed to meet him.
Dictators consider themselves to be smart asses, probably because the power they command blinds them of all sense and sensibility, and they live in the fantasy world that the position that they enjoy will remain unchanged - no matter what.
Article 209 of the Pakistani Constitution mandates that the President has no powers to remove from office a Chief Justice, or any Judge for that matter. The matter needs to be referred to a Supreme Judicial Council via a referendum.
In Chaudhury’s support, lawyers across the country stayed away from courts. It was a landmark first where lawyers and law enforcers clashed - lawyers took to the streets in a showdown with baton wielding riot police. Police beat Geo TV journalists inside the station’s studios in Islamabad because they had been airing footage of lawyers covered in blood from injuries they had received during a demonstration in support of Chaudhury. The studio was ransacked and the TV journalists were tear gassed. Several lawyers and judges began mass resignations. The Pakistani Judiciary was on tenterhooks.
Media, both local and international erupted with criticism. And after a long time, or probably the first time Musharraf was forced to offer an unconditional apology.
And then May 12
th happened in
Karachi. Chaudhury was to be in
Karachi to address the Sindh High Court. Government tankers were used to block off routes to the airport, police and rangers were conspicuous by their absence or standing idle as armed men ran amok on the streets of Karachi, corpses and wounded bodies lying by the wayside in pools of blood. Supporters of Chaudhury flocking the route were fired at by these armed men in civilian clothes. It looked like the beginning of army rule in
Karachi. 46 lives were lost in the carnage. But Musharraf justified the carnage by terming it the ‘political activity’ of a party attempting to show its strength to its constituency.
[
Information has been sourced from http://www.teeth.com.pk/blog/2007/05/30/eyewitness-karachi-may-12-2007/
Check it out, it’s a shocking read!]
Chaudhury was again the centre of another massive anti-government extravaganza on May 26th in Islamabad that held the entire nation in thrall. Chants of ‘Go Musharraf Go’ that began in the rally have now become a rage all over the country. And for the first time Musharraf is on the defensive, and telling the world as to why he should not quit.
Musharraf has failed to see that the movement has gone way beyond the lawyers. From a fight for an independent judiciary, it has now turned into a fight for democracy, a fight for independence. From him.
He better count his days in office. As far his reign goes, if this is not the end, this is certainly the beginning of the end.
4 comments:
The independence of the judiciary, its freedom to adjudicate on matters without external interference, and its disinterested outlook towards all forms of biases and prejudices is a characteristic of a truly vibrant and living democracy.
Pakistan never really laid claim to being a democracy, neither living nor dead. The assassination of Liaqat Ali Khan and the subsequent military regimes ensured that democracy never took root in the soil of the fledgling nation. So whatever is happening now is pretty normal for the country.
However what is worthy of appreciation is the fact that the people of Pakistan are now reluctant to go back to the days of yore, when laws were made and unmade from the barracks rather than from the Assemblies. If this spirit persists, then hope prevails, not just for Pakistan, but for the world as a whole.
Somehow this seems to be some sort of a trend. India seems to have been blessed(!) with neighbours that are regularly under seige from their own countrymen.
Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan.
Perhaps, the last one is the most important of them all.
Needless to say, the results of the current slugfight will have interesting implications in India's foriegn policy in the times to come.
how cud u forget bhutan.......
and yaa india is indeed blessed... atleast no "emergency" like situation here.....
new blog. pl. check.
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