The chief justice of Pakistan resigns, they hope; the Prime Minister is thrown out of office, they wish; the army chief declares martial law, they pray.
If the past year teaches us anything, it’s that there can never be a dull April in Pakistan. Rejecting this week’s controversial supreme court verdict on assembly elections in Punjab, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, his cabinet and the entire parliament vowed to uphold the supremacy of parliament with defiance. Even if it means that the sword of disqualification now hangs over the PM’s head in a forecasted contempt of court.
Fiery speeches and resolutions rang from the national assembly, nagging pressers named and shamed the judges, and spiced tweets denounced the top court’s verdict as a “judicial coup”. With calls—from former PM Nawaz Sharif to foreign affairs minister Bilawal Bhutto—asking the chief justice to resign for alleged misconduct, this fight between the government and judiciary is now as real as day and night.
Now, why should everyone else have all the fun and not Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial who went from crying in the court to laughing in a span of six days? Will he have the last laugh in this emotional-drama-packed thriller too? Just wait and watch.
Then there was breaking news and television tickers on the chief justice’s dabang remarks that evoked tears, fury, and some unprecedented jokes — when he offered to give up his own and other judges’ salary to conduct assembly elections that would cost PKR 21 billion. Perhaps our dear judges never did well in math in high school.
With the defence ministry saying that the army will not be available for poll duty, the counterargument from the chief justice was to use the Pakistani navy and air force instead. Imagine F-16s dropping voter lists on top of the polling stations or navy submarines floating in the Lahore canal to bag votes. One can wish, why not. The icing was the emotional outburst of the top judge on how he stands in defiance with a ‘brother judge’ Mazahar Ali Naqvi who’s accused of corruption, misconduct in suthe preme judicial council. In leaked conversations, PTI leaders reportedly discuss how to manage the ‘brother judges’ for their cases. But the CJP insisted that he add Justice Naqvi to the bench “to send a silent message to someone”. No wonder the Pakistani judiciary ranked 129 out of 140 in the World Justice Project’s Rule of Law Index report of 2022.
The Oscars and Golden Globes might have packed up for this season, but they sure missed out on the performance of some Pakistani judges. It is their loss, not ours. These few good men are fighting the battle for this long-suffering nation, we have been told — the battle for an assembly election. That is the biggest fight for a poor man literally dying on the road, trying to get hold of one bag of 10 kg atta (flour). But let all these poor people eat elections for now.
Three judges and a funeral
How did we reach here?
While hearing the case of a Capital City Police Lahore (CCPO) chief’s transfer from Lahore, the top court judges felt that it was election o’clock. Next we know, 30 April was finalised as the date for Punjab assembly polls. It was then pushed to 8 October by the election commission, which declared that provincial polls shall be held with the national assembly election. But, of course, that was not acceptable to Imran Khan’s PTI, and the court was there to oblige as always.
It began with nine judges hearing this suo motu plea — then there were seven, then five, down to four, and finally, three were left. Signalling towards the division within the supreme court on the issue, the three-judge bench headed by Bandial decided that the election would be held on 14 May. It also decided the election schedule, a timeline for the distribution of funds to the election commission, and the layout of a security plan. The only thing missing in the judgment were the election results. Wonder what stopped them.
During the course of this controversial hearing and in the aftermath of this verdict, other supreme court judges accused Bandial of running a “one-man show”, political expediency, hinting at judges as “politicians in robes”. They also highlighted the CJP-led bench’s interpretation of Article 63-A, which unduly titled the scale in favour of Imran Khan and awarded him the Punjab government last July. No surprise that it was the same three-judge-bench that has now given the controversial election verdict. ‘Hum khayal (like-minded)’ bench is what naysers fondly call them.
Taj Mahal of Pakistan
In Pakistan, everyone likes to do each other’s jobs, and no one is really interested in their own. This could well be a bumper sticker for Pakistan through 76 years and counting. Here, the generals are fond of politics and more, while the judges are the self-serving legislature, executive and election commission. The judges and the jarnails (commanding officers) have always been unholy bedfellows. To save their relationship, they’ve hanged, given life sentences to, and disqualified elected prime ministers. They’ve given military dictators powers to amend the constitution and helped them in expanding their rules, all in the name of the doctrine of necessity. As former army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa tells us — these judges are scared of TikTok and give verdicts under their wives’ pressure, who belong to the Imran Khan club.
The establishment might have given up on Project Imran Khan but these new jarnails haven’t yet. Not ready to let go, not ready to divorce.
How can they? In the Panama case against Nawaz Sharif, they stood with open arms to welcome Imran Khan, advising him not to waste time on the roads and join them. The white building of the supreme court is akin to India’s Taj Mahal, a reminder to dispense justice only for its love. This is not about the “constitution knocking at the door” for the election to be held in 90 days. It is to save your love from the turmoil of months and years ahead. Win an election in Punjab so that the national assembly results can sway Imran Khan’s way later. The initial plan to dissolve the Punjab assembly was to blackmail the federal government to go into early election nationwide, a strategy that didn’t work. The next best strategy is to rig the system before doomsday.
The doom in this scenario will come in the month of September when Justice Qazi Faez Isa becomes the new chief justice. The judge and his family, whom the Imran Khan-led government dragged through the mud with a judicial reference. His crime? Penning a verdict in the Faizabad dharna case of far-Right group Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan and assigning blame to and calling for action against now retired Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Faiz Hameed.
For Imran Khan, this is much like ‘I know what you did last November’ all over again. That time he wanted an election before the new army chief was appointed, but then we all know how that went. The general he didn’t want as army chief is now holding that position. The judge he didn’t want as chief justice is months or even days away from taking charge.
PTI had celebratory laddoos all too soon.
The author is a freelance journalist from Pakistan. Her Twitter handle is @nailainayat. Views are personal.
(Edited by Humra Laeeq)