The chief justice speaks

The recent meeting of Chief Justice Saqib Nisar with a journalist, and the publication of its contents, has created an unpleasant maelstrom. Prior to that, a deliberate campaign against CJ Nisar had been initiated following his landmark judgments against Nawaz Sharif, followed by the CJ’s continued role in challenging the status quo on everything that concerns common folks – from malfunctioning hospitals to unavailability of potable water.

The CJ’s interview, although an unprecedented move, should be seen in a positive spirit as he laid down his vision and unflinching resolve towards across-the-board accountability, a function that becomes more important due to the unceasing corruption within the political system and its unwillingness to self-correct.

General Bajwa’s recent statement supporting the judiciary should also be seen in this vein as the continued status quo threatens the fundamentals of the country and its crumbling institutions.

The established political class in Pakistan – from the opposition to those in power – have continuously enriched themselves. True, there are a few examples of honesty and integrity, but they in extreme short supply and their behaviour often raises eyebrows, whether in contempt or appreciation, for being outside of the norm. To be fair to the political class, some men in uniform have followed a similar trajectory albeit, in my opinion, with one distinction – it is not rampant. Besides, the integrity of their institutions has remained largely intact but for the period led by General Musharraf who, under the command and influence of the US, violated the credibility of the whole system to fit in with the larger game plan for the future of the region where the Pakistan army had to be so discredited as an institution that it would be easy to foment chaos a la the Middle East, and dismantle the country.

Towards his end, Musharraf confronted an otherwise pliant judiciary with brute force, but CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry’s sudden change of heart in the form of his refusal to yield to monstrous physical abuse and pressure redefined the rule of the higher judiciary. Regardless of the murky criticism that Chaudhry has endured, particularly after his retirement, one cannot deny that his refusal made him an overnight icon of resistance and endeared him to the people. Later, his active role in drafting the judiciary into activism was not only in line with public expectations as the only source of justice against a corrupt and insular politics, and looming military interventions, but also the only hope to course correct Pakistan’s much touted ‘descent into chaos’ advanced by Western pundits and their local proxies in order to cause despair and bring the country to its knees through psychological warfare.

Justice Chaudhry’s judicial activism and suo-motu notices, a hitherto uncommon practice, also fired the imagination of a new idealism among law students, future judges as well as sitting members of the judiciary who suddenly realised their massive potential to become agents of change.

Since the return of the NRO-esque democracy that retained every character of a Kafkaesque world order, the situation for common people has worsened in relative terms and without any material improvement. True, the only improvement has remained the preserve of the traditional and hereditary political class that has further enriched itself by perpetuating corruption and widening its horizons.

In the post-Musharraf era, the five years of the PPP were extremely terrible; there were unprecedented stories of corruption and unbridled nepotism, with scandals from ephedrine to money-laundering through promiscuous models, and emasculation of important institutions such as PIA and the Pakistan Steel Mills. Besides, the recently revealed information on alleged massive fraud and forced evacuation to support illegal housing expansions in Karachi offers a glimpse of the robber barons at the helm and their contempt for the suffering of powerless citizens. While CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry, through his judicial injections, tried to bring some top-down order, his activism could only create a mechanism for revolving-door prime ministers as Asif Zardari, a master of political deceit, played with time by fielding an endless supply of easily available pawns.

The Sharifs’ return to power did lead to certain change – and for the good. Nawaz Sharif initiated some large-scale road and transport infrastructure development programmes, but they have remained confined mainly to Lahore with some trickledown effect on the outskirts of the city. However, these projects, and many other projects of the Punjab government, have also been dogged by allegations of massive corruption. In addition, the past has come back to haunt them as the new process of accountability supervised by the judiciary has finally started to unravel decades-old financial matters.

Sadly, previous exercises of accountability proved to be a hoax. For example, the infamous Surrey Palace that dogged Benazir Bhutto was not fictitious; but collusion between politicians, bureaucracies and investigating agencies rendered the whole process deeply flawed and it thereby failed to come to any fruition. Besides, the political signature tone of these investigations compromised any progress – real or imagined – in the public eye.

Under these circumstances, the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif, both as prime minister and party president, has shaken his self-assured hubris. This has led him to attack the judiciary consistently in public by employing deliberate and contemptuous verbiage.

Chief Justice Saqib Nisar’s interview must be seen in that light as an extraordinary intervention – not only as a depiction of his resolve to fight entrenched and institutionalised corruption across the board, but also to support the morale of the judiciary that is being subjected to continued vilification.

Twitter: @murtaza_shibli