First Drops Of The Rain

By Dr. Khalil Ahmad

It was amidst the intense struggle to consolidate the gains made on July 20 (2007) under the historic judgment of the Supreme Court of Pakistan that reinstated the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to his rightful constitutional position after he was rendered ineffective on March 9 (2007) by the then dictator General Musharraf, that the present writer in a piece, Rule of Law’s Minor Domains, in August the same year pleaded for the rights of all the citizens of Pakistan to the equal protection of the laws. He argued that under the dust of major issues such as Prime Minister’s and President’s powers, and other high profile constitutional issues, fundamental rights of the individuals must not be relegated to minor domains. They are in fact the major domains and mainstay of the constitution of Pakistan and that rule of law must extend to each and every citizen of Pakistan. 

Now as after about 17 months the constitutional Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, has once again been reinstated to his rightful position, and a larger segment of population is looking towards him to make miracles in dispensing them with justice, a natural right long overdue to them, this writer once again wants to make the point that first drops of the rain should quench the thirst of the hapless ordinary populace. He does not mean to belittle issues such as implementation of the seven member judgment of the Supreme Court on November 3 (2007), subversion of the constitution on November 3 (2007), disqualification of Mian Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif, et al. His thrust is what should include the ‘focus’ of the present Supreme Court and that too as its top priority.  

Just the other day the writer happened to put a question to one citizen who is considered to have no rights except to vote because she belongs to the most downtrodden class. He asked, “You know the Chief Justice has been restored?” She shied away, “Who? Shahbaz Sharif has been restored?” May be she would have voted for Shahbaz Sharif. Or, let’s come ‘down to earth’ logic, in case some affliction befell her where she will go that is why she knows about Shahbaz Sharif! After knocking at these or those doors including the local tiers of representation, finally she will go to her provincial or national assembly representative. This is how our system works. Even if she goes to the police or to the court for protection or for justice, she will look for such influential person/s who will help her get police and court on her side to give her protection and justice.  

That means the executive branch of the state and its pseudo-agents i.e. influential persons inside or outside the government have overwhelmingly encroached upon the functions of the judiciary which stands nowhere as far as the ordinary citizens are concerned. We know the helpless courts making judgments, if they make any such judgments on merit, but unable to get them implemented. We know how government functionaries and police defy the courts’ orders. But the continuous suffering is the lot of the hapless ordinary citizens, not the fate of the culprits. This state of affairs must change for better now. That will help courts, their judges, and their judgments play their due role in the daily lives of the ordinary people. 

For this to achieve, the present Supreme Court must work on the two fronts: lower courts and police. It is here in these two places that justice is dispensed with and is seen dispensed with also to the ordinary citizens. Sure, even if taken up honestly and sincerely, it will take time to improve things in both places since they have corrupted to such an extent. But that it has been taken up seriously must be made to be seen clearly by ordinary citizens. There lies the taste of the fruits of an independent judiciary for those who live on the farthest margins of our Pakistani society.  

It should be made one of the two top priorities that the police delivers. As it is, the police in Pakistan has come to be acting as a friend of the criminals of all the hues, and they are treated as VIPs by it. It seems they patronize the police! Whereas the ordinary people fear the police and it is for strong reasons that no one opts for going to the police to report any crime. They do not want to be further victimized by the police after having fallen victim to the criminals’ high handedness. It is still narrated among the populace that when years back Punjab police went on a strike for about a week, crimes reduced considerably. Not that crimes were not reported, but because of the fact that criminals lost patronage and crimes did not take place at a greater scale. It also implies the absence of police from its “duty.” But that is just a manner of making the argument. Police reformation and transformation is what is needed desperately and urgently. 

It needs no dwelling on the issue of complicity between the crime busters and the criminals, almost regularly news both in electronic and print media can be seen that tell the stories of police itself turned criminal. They in the guise of police rob and loot citizens, commit organized dacoities. Probably police is the top most institution of Pakistan that violates law with impunity and no fear of accountability. This all continues unabated despite police’s own internal checks. The lesser the rank of a policeman, the greater is the magnitude of his going against the law. In short, they behave like law unto themselves.  

Another aspect of the degradation of police to the level of sheer criminality is the negligence of the courts in all the cases concerned with police. That exposes the heart of the courts where resides a matter-of-fact like soft corner for the police including government functionaries, maybe because they all belong to the same category, the officialdom.  

It is for the courts to take steps to improve the situation immediately. First, they should really try to implement what existing rules and laws provide for in this regard. Second, they should go for change and improvement in existing rules and laws wherever it is needed. Third, they should take to reforms by introducing new rules and procedures to bring the performance of the police up to the mark of a civilized society. Let it be clarified here that in this regard part of the responsibility rests with the government and as we know that it is just useless to expect the government to take such steps but under the due pressure and supervision of the courts that the new courts with an independent spirit have been exhorted to deal with the issue of the police performance. 

The second top priority is itself a matter of the courts’ own performance to be taken up by the courts to deliver as they should. In common words, the courts should realize that it is high time to make justice available to everyone whom it is due. Now it should not remain a rare commodity. That as it is proverbially said one should need to be wealthy, to be long living, and with an unfailing patience to seek justice, it should not happen now. The process of reformation in the lower courts should immediately be started.  

The Honorable Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has this realization is amply demonstrated by his first address to the lawyers gathered in the Supreme Court to welcome his return to his chamber. He made no concealing of the fact of corruption rampant in the courts from top to bottom, resolved to root it out, and called upon the lawyers to bring it into the notice of the courts to be dealt with promptly. That it is a greater challenge for the lawyers who ran the rule of law movement so steadfastly is another test for their integrity that how far and how sincerely they act with the same vigor to turn the courts into real seats of justice.  

As the rule of law movement successfully brought to the fore that ordinary people of Pakistan need and want justice, and not any material gain, and that they need and want to be protected what they have earned honestly and what is their own is what they expect from the courts to deliver to them. That it is the first and foremost duty of the government to protect every citizen’s life and his fundamental rights ensured in the constitution, it is for the courts then to make government deliver promptly and efficiently on these duties.  

Last but not least, that as every citizen is equal before law, he has equal right to life, property, happiness, dignity and self-respect and that these are not the exclusive privileges of the elite classes should be seen taking place at least in police stations and courts, if not in the public departments and public life. That there has come a qualitative change in the highest seat of justice in Pakistan should be felt by those who live on the edges and do not know anything about this change. They have been living in waiting for this for the last 62 years. First drops of this rain should exclusively be meant for them! That will be the beauty and the blessing of this change!