Islamic history is replete with examples when men of authority presented themselves before the courts of law and sought justice or defended themselves like any other ordinary person.

After they were exonerated by the courts, they continued their work 
uninterrupted as during the court proceedings against them. Justice requires that an accused is not punished before his crime has been proved. We are unique in one sense though. We cry for justice but in the same breath we demand injustice.

Why the president and the ministers should be sent packing and rendered jobless whereas their cases are still pending decisions in the courts of law. Aitzaz Ahsan’s logic is twisted so is of Barrister Akram Sheikh’s and other of their kinds. My respect for them notwithstand-ing, we must call a spade a spade.

The analogy drawn between the suspension of a permanent employee working under ESTA code and the office holder of a political office working on temporary basis is quite far fetched and tantamount to playing up the whole situation.

Politicians swim the waves of public support based on good public perceptions which they earn through hard work and dedication to public welfare. The absence of which is no less than a death knell for any politician and severe enough punishment.

Further, what high moral standards are we talking about? According to what law a holder of high public office should leave his office, defend his case, exonerate himself first and then come back to reclaim his ministerial position which may evade him then.

Are we blind? Don’t we know how our courts work? One life is not good enough for any case to decide. Moreover, those who had instituted these cases against politicians on what high moral pedestal did they stand? Don’t we know our political culture? The 34 politicians who are subjected to this legal grind have not been able to escape it in the last twelve years.

If Saifur Rehman, former chairman of NAB, is morally, ethically and legally unassail-able, then why should he be running away from the country? Why doesn’t he present himself before the courts of Pakistan and remove some fog from certain cases doing service to justice and fair play. The initial reactions of Khawaja Asif and Sadiqual Farooq of PML (N) over Supreme Court’s decision on NRO were classic examples of ennui the politicians are usually accused of: Never miss a chance to land in the blow.

This time, however, it was too pre-mature. Their demand of the president to resign because of SC’s decision on NRO is not only ludicrous, it is downright hilarious rather comical. Our sages on TV screens, some of them even went over board, have created an unnecessary hype that is only reflective of acute shortage of maturity which is sadly missing in our political culture on the whole.

These political wizards including Dr Shahid Masood, who claims to be candid enough not to agree with himself, have done little service to Pakistan by sensationalizing an ordinary situation. Curiously, Dr SM’s show, quite superciliously called ‘According to Me’ very frequently props up venom sprouting anti Zardari cartel led by Arfan Saddiqi, Shaheen Shehbai, Salah Zafar and Ansar Abbasi etc along with Barrister Akram Sheikh and for the last twelve months straight has failed to point out any good thing the PPP government may have done for the country: should we let our prejudices blind us?

Courts are not and can’t be in tune with these pseudo revolutionaries who want to change everything overnight. Courts rather tame the revolutionary spirits, because they are to do justice. Courts don’t act like revolutionary councils to reform society. Courts do justice and by doing so they uphold the rule of law which eventually proves beneficial to a society but this all happens over a considerable period of time.

This is an evolutionary process which is a blessing and reward in itself. The society reforms itself voluntarily in an atmosphere of justice, fair play and rule of law. Even a junior student of Civics understands that the judiciary and the executive are two faces of the same coin. Both in their respective roles have responsibility towards society.

Their role, essentially speaking, is not inimical to each other, it is rather  complement-ary.  The executive implements the decisions taken by the courts, whereas the courts have the right to supervise the implementation of their orders. Strong and indepen-dent courts are good things for the executive too so that its rogue elements are kept under check which signifies good governance.

Now the verdict being out one can reflect upon the circumstance that led to the abrogation of the NRO by the Supreme Court. Frankly speaking, the NRO never had any chance of survival. In the Supreme Court it even did not have any lawyer to support it.

The government had already abandoned it a month before it was taken up by the court. The court has only formalized its demise enabling/or forcing the executive to follow through on newly opened cases. Angels won’t fall from the sky to do that. If courts are independent, which they are, there should not be any problem regarding who is sitting where.

Further, under the watchful eyes of newly liberated media and hawkish supervision of the so-called independent judiciary, prosecutors can’t compromise with their work. We should also give some allowance to the fact that there are a very few politicians who are involved. There are thousands of others who have wrongly benefited from this legal loophole.

All, whether in authority or not, will pass through the judicial net and come out clean or condemned. With all fairness one can say that Pakistan needs a breather and an interregnum for democracy. Zardari should not succumb to the immoral, unethical and illegal demand of resignation made by his detractors with ulterior motives.

Since beginning they have been on his throat. They have been defeated politically and legally. Now they must invoke some moral and ethical standards in their own right to push Zardari out of the president house. Especially, those who did not participate in the elections have grown extremely impatient.

Such political Zombies as Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Munawar Hassan of Jama-te Islami and Imran Khan have already demanded midterm election which on their part signifies very cruel reading of Pakistan ‘s multidimensional problems. In politics personal honesty is no guarantee your recipe will work. The nation is already through such experimentation and can’t afford to continue with such political vandalism.

Information

Politicians swim the    waves of public support based on good public percep-tions which they earn through hard work and dedication to public welfare. The absence of which is no less than a death knell for any politician and severe  enough punishment.

 First appeared in Pakistan Observer on 22 December, 2009.

Nawaz,  Zardari and their acolytes

Masters of blame game

 Parveez Musharraf with Nawaz Sharief