JURIST Special Guest Columnist Faisal Naseem Chaudhry, an advocate of the Lahore High Court in Lahore, Pakistan, says that Pakistan is enduring a series of misfortunes under General Pervez Musharraf's emergency rule which will be remembered by its people…

Mr. Justice M. R. Kiyani, Chief Justice of the West Pakistan High Court during the days of General Ayub Khan's martial law, told the Karachi Bar Association in December 1958 that, "Misfortunes come not alone, but in battalions; and in this case it was a whole army". Our society still faces the dismay of 1958 and there are plenty of "servicemen", this time also in plain clothes.

Yesterday morning, a news item appeared in national dailies reporting the summary of a 58-page judgment of the three dissenting judges who disagree with the Supreme Court court's recent rulings in the election eligibility case. The petitioners in that had challenged the validity of General Musharraf holding dual offices and contesting elections for another term while still in uniform. According to newspapers this morning, the Attorney General for Pakistan made the following remarks while terming the dissent "nothing but a piece of paper"

It has no significance as these judges no longer hold their posts. Judges cannot even sign a judgment after losing their job…I found General Musharraf to be the most courteous and accommodating person and undoubtedly a good military commander who is bearing these judges.

The country is already full of Generals in uniform and now we have these "plain clothes" Generals: Attorney General, Advocate General, Prosecutor General. It was not so long ago when the present Chief Law Officer of Pakistan himself signed "a piece of paper" on June 26, 2001 thereby tendering his resignation from the position of Judge of the Lahore High Court subsequent to the Supreme Court's judgment when the top court severely indicted him for delivering a politically biased judgement convicting former premier Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari in the SGS Case. Such a misfortune.

This evening, DAWN TV brought before us Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, the leader of MMA, a coalition of religious parties in Pakistan who said, "We do aim at the Independence of Judiciary but it has nothing to do with the restoration of individuals. We believe in the institutions, not in people". Hearing this one would like to beat one's head against a wall, particularly when it is so proudly claimed by the government that the literacy rate here has risen to 53%. Majesty of law without restoration of our deposed judges would become a tyranny of Law. Such a misfortune.

Or take the case of Mr. Syed Afzal Haider, a very well-respected lawyer of Lahore, former President of the Lahore High Court Bar Association, former Law Minister for the Government of Punjab, a great advocate of the "rule of law" and the author of two voluminous books on the murder-trial of former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He took an oath as Federal Law Minister on November 17 in the caretaker cabinet inducted by General Musharraf. Within five days under the able guidance of Mr. Haider, the draftsmen at the Law Ministry successfully drafted the Ordinance promulgated today, the 21st, under which the General purified all his acts, deeds, and misdeeds subsequent to November 3, and further curtailed the powers of Courts by disallowing hearing of petitions against such acts, deeds, or misdeeds. Such a misfortune.

Misfortunes come not alone; they come not in battalions either, but this time in platoons. And these platoons must remember that Pakistan is inhabited by very sentimental people. When they love or hate, they do so without reservations.

Faisal Naseem Chaudhry is an advocate of the Lahore High Court, Lahore, Pakistan
——–