What needs to be ‘preserved, protected and defended’?

ISLAMABAD: Oath of Office of Chief Justice of Pakistan or of a high court or judge of the Supreme Court or high court: “In the name of Allah, the most Beneficent, the most Merciful. I do solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to Pakistan: That I will preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”
The term ‘preserve’ is defined as to “maintain (something) in its original or existing state”. Intriguingly, the oath of office of the president of the United States also states “to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”.
To protect the Constitution is to “keep safe from harm or injury”. And to defend the Constitution is to “resist an attack; protect from harm or danger”. The Chief Justice of Pakistan, the judges of the Supreme Court, chief justices of the high courts and judges of the high courts have all sworn to: (i) maintain the Constitution in its original state; (ii) keep the Constitution safe from harm; (iii) resist attacks on the Constitution.
What needs to be ‘preserved, protected and defended’? The Constitution of Pakistan in its preamble (now made a substantive part thereof vide Article 2A) declares that “the independence of the judiciary shall be fully secured”. Judicial independence is the concept that the judiciary must be kept away from the executive as well as the Parliament. Can military officers, being part of the executive, become judicial officers?
What needs to be ‘preserved, protected and defended’? The Constitution provides a model of governance that vests legislative, executive and judicial powers of the government in separate bodies. Article 175 of the Constitution provides for progressive separation of the judiciary and had fixed a time limit for such separation. The time limit expired in 1987 and “from then onwards, irrespective of the fact whether steps have been taken or not, judiciary stands separated (PLD 1993 SC 341)”.
What needs to be ‘preserved, protected and defended’? Fair trial and due process of law guaranteed in the Constitution. Fair trial means the “right to be heard by a competent, independent and an impartial court”. And due process means the right to grieve and the right to appeal.No one would disagree that “the art of progress is to preserve order amid change”.