It is indeed the most interesting case in the supreme court where Judges are deciding their own cause and boosting about their credentials. I am prepared to give them some leeway on that as this is first time in the history of Pakistan that the majority of honorable judges have something to boost about.

It was amusing to read the comment from Justice Ramday.

“We made sacrifices for the system, democracy and constructed a wall to save it and even became prisoners, faced starvation for declining to take oath under the PCO, but the judiciary got its hands cut in the follow-up and was told how dare you say it; we have also given sacrifices of over 70 judges, adding that in view of the July 31, 2009 verdict, many competent judges who took oath under the PCO had to relinquish their jobs.”

yes my lord you have given sacrifices for the system (first time!!!) , however there are several in this beloved country of ours who have given sacrifices not once but many a times.. these many are called politicians and political workers.

Ask Nawaz Sharif what it means by sacrifice when you are in Attock Jail and you even don’t have the proper toilet facilities.
Ask Benazir Bhutto how it feels when your father is hanged on the orders of “judges” sitting in your seats.

Ask the thousands of political workers of PPP, PML(N) , ANP and several other parties what it means by the word “sacrifice” , I must say we should use the words with their proper meaning. But let me add that there is nothing taken away from the honorable judges who have struggled against the mad dictator.

Let me come to the “arguments” of Mr. Akram Shaikh yesterday…

1. Article 175-A and independence of judiciary:
As usual Mr. Akram Shaikh kept insisting that new procedure for appointment of judges as described in article 175-A will compromise the independence of judiciary without substantiating it with any valid arguments. Justice Saqib Nisar rightly asked him how is it possible when 3 senior judges including the CJ are part of the commission. Mr. Akram Shaikh kept trying to malign the politicians of Pakistan , and again Justice Saqib Nisar rightly reminded him that it was a politician who is the founder of this Country. I must say that just like honorable judges are so sensitive to their prestige , they should also ask the lawyers to be responsible when talk about the politicians.

2. Article 6-2A:
Not really sure why the judges are afraid of Article 6-2A (when their fellow power center COAS and his cronies in the past , present and future don’t care 🙂 Ask Gen. Musharraf does he fear Article 6? ). The verdict of July 31st has nothing to do with Article 6-2A , we already know that Dogar Courts can easily over turn such verdicts with a larger bench. Justice Javed S. Khwaja and CJ IMC should not be worried about the article 6-2A , as if Kiyani wants to impose Martial law , he will make sure the judges who support him don’t get hurt by article 6-2A , if you don’t believe me ask Abdul Hameed Dogar.

3. 18th Amendment was passed in hurry:
The Constitutional reforms committee representing every party in the parliament held 77 meeting , spending 385 hours excluding the hours spent by each of the committee member with his/her party. And the research by numerous constitutional wizards including Wasim Sajjad, Raza Rabbanis of this world. Mr. Akram Shaikh you might not have spent enough time to read the constitution of Pakistan (which is obvious from your arguments so far) , the time most of this committee members have spent in researching the constitutions all over the world.

Let me quote here the paragraph 13 from 18th amendment bill.

“The committee in its meeting dated 29th June, 2009, decided to invite suggestions/proposals and amendments from the public at large through the press with a cut-off date of the 1st of August 2009, which was subsequently extended by the Committee to 10th August 2009. The committee received a total number of 982 recommendations/proposals and amendments through this process.”

I am sure Mr. Akram Shaikh would not have sent a single proposal to the committee.

Summary:
So far the arguments of Mr. Shaikh had revolved around two basic points.

1. The Judiciary was not consulted when changing the procedure of appointment of judges.

2. The politicians want to destroy the independence of judiciary by having a say in the appointment of judges.

Honourable Judges sitting in te full bench must understand that both of these points are with malicious intent. There is no reason for the judiciary to be consulted directly when framing a policy or procedure. The constitution of Pakistan represents the will of people and the amendments in constitution of Pakistan are made by the parliament consisting of the representative elected by the people of Pakistan. The constitutional reforms committee in it earnest heard and reviewed 100′s of proposals , many of the members of constitutional reforms committee spent days and nights researching and ensuring the best possible procedure for the appointment of judges. The procedure described in article 175-A is a consensus procedure by all the parties and has been approved unanimously by the parliament.

The politicians of Pakistan , just like any other country, may have 100′s of drawbacks however one thing is time-tested and proven is that whenever they have embarked on weaving the dreams of prosperous future of People of Pakistan , they have always proven themselves honest and expert at it. Constitution of 1973 , Struggle against the Dictatorship , and 18th Amendment are glorious examples of their honesty. Supreme Court of Pakistan must respect the parliament and parliamentarian as much as it expects others to respect the Supreme Court and her honorable judges.

Observations from the Judges:

1. It was interesting to note that how CJ IMC was guiding Mr. Akram Shaikh to frame his arguments. At one stage CJ told him how to first focus on the separation of judiciary from the executive and then criticise article 175-A. I wish Mr. Akram Shaikh had learnt something in his college 🙂 .

2. “System bent upon committing suicide” roared Justice Ramday.
“We order for deputing a person to conduct an independent investigation into a particular case, but no one pays any heed to this”.
C’mon Justice , the appointment is the affair of executive. Please pass the orders that can be implemented : )

3. “they desire that no damage is done to democratic System” said CJ. Things happen without desire most of the time. Important thing is to make sure that institutions don’t become instruments in the hand of Army to slaughter the democratic system.

Source: Pakistan and Future

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