Capital suggestion: Working courts

Nisar was candid and transparent. He demonstrated vision and clarity. He appeared a man of character, integrity and principles.

Seventy-seven years ago, the Luftwaffe of the Third Reich (the German Air Force) began bombing London. Seventy-seven years ago, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, prime minister of the United Kingdom, was being briefed on the “death and destruction and how almost all economic activity had collapsed”.

Churchill asked, “Are the courts functioning?” Churchill was told that the “judges were present in the courts and dispensing justice”. Churchill replied, “Thank God. If the courts are working, nothing can go wrong.”

Pakistan is up against serious challenges – both internal and external. Internally, there’s Operation Raddul Fasaad and Operation Khyber-4. Externally, there’s General Bipin Rawat in the east and the National Directorate of Security in the west.

Our Supreme Court had two choices: to repeat history or to write history. The Supreme Court wrote history. The good news is that Pakistan’s judiciary has now assumed its prescribed constitutional role-check and balance. The other good news is that the Supreme Court has ended an era – a thoroughly corrupt era. The Supreme Court has now provided a platform for change. Yes, Pakistan’s judiciary is working and as long as the “courts are working, nothing can go wrong.”

Under the constitution, the business of the state is to be run under a system of ‘checks and balances’ within a “mechanism designed to limit power of a single individual or body of government”. Checks and balances are “intended to allow legitimate power to govern and good ideas to be implemented, while abuse of power, corruption, and oppression are minimised”.

On Thursday, I heard a Pakistani politician speak. And I have never heard a Pakistani politician speak the way he did last Thursday. Chaudhry Nisar was candid. He was transparent. He demonstrated vision. His speech was vivid and concrete. He demonstrated clarity of mind. He appeared a man of character. He appeared a man of integrity. And he appeared a man of principles. His speech had content, delivery and the right language – three in one.

I admit that I had somehow lost confidence in our political elite. Yes, he has restored at least some of my lost confidence. He told us how sycophancy has gained a central role in our politics. His message was about our political bankruptcy. He told us how easy it had become for stooges and sycophants to secure top berths within the PML-N (or any other political party for that matter). He told us how sycophancy within the PML-N had become a measure of political accomplishment.

The best of all is that he appeared to be a politician who really understands Pakistan’s rather complex threat matrix (military, nuclear, terrorist, cyber and economic). He seems to be a man with a plan: his civil-military synthesis. The civil-military synthesis model is the one that the entire civilised world utilises to achieve success. Pakistan can do the same.

Yes, the man has faults; we all do – some more, others less. I think he erred by committing to quit politics. Yes, I think he is ambitious. Yes, I am convinced that he has a strong desire to climb up the political ladder. And, yes, he is known to keep company with elements with declared affinity to the use of terror for political ends.

Thank God. The courts are working. It’s the dawn of a new era. Only legitimate power should govern. Let good ideas be implemented. End abuse of power. End corruption.

The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad.

Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com. Twitter: @saleemfarrukh