The writer is a freelance journalist with over twenty years of experience in national and international reporting
Physician, heal thyself. The moral for the Supreme Court is to attend to its own ineligibility rather than declare the Sharifs ineligible.
Honourable Khalilur Rehman Ramday has pronounced Pakistan as a country without laws. Since the November 3 Emergency/Martial Law has neither been ratified nor struck down by this government (as the law dictates), everything that has happened in the interim is "illegal and unconstitutional" slams Justice Ramday, the deposed judge of the Supreme Court. Does it mean that all the laws, high level appointments, agreements and day-to-day governance of the state for the last one year have no legal cover? Dare I say yes? Justice Ramday, pithy in his view, has gone hoarse, literally, warning anyone who cares to listen, that today in Pakistan there is no law! "It's not about restoring chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry or me; it's about the rule of law which today is non-existent."
OK, what's the bailout?
"It's only the constitution that can condone/cancel Musharraf's illegal, unconstitutional and subversive November 3 Martial Law," says Justice Ramday. "The constitution permits the parliament to amend this act by a two-third majority." Since the one-year-old parliament has done no such thing, Justice Ramday's fear that Pakistan will descend into chaos where "mafias, thugs, overlords" will rule is already a reality in Swat and our northern areas. Gulp! The nation has become lawless.
Pakistani tax-payers are spending billions on maintaining the parliamentarians. What have they given us in return? Nothing but more crime, corruption, palace intrigues, terrorism, death and destruction. The slogan 'Democracy is the best revenge' is a good fit for this zombie bunch. "Democracy flows from the rule of law," says Justice Ramday. "This parliament is not a gift from heaven; it's a gift of the constitution. President Zardari's appointment is not divine; it's by the parliament and the constitution." A religious scholar; an expert on constitutional law; a God-fearing Muslim and an outstanding judge, Justice Ramday says: "But if you throw the constitution into the wastepaper basket (as has been done by the present and past governments) God save Pakistan. My heart is bleeding."
And did you know that the NRO is dead?
When did the death occur? Oh, just a couple of months after it was born on October 5, 2007, according Justice Ramday. Hello, the PPP and MQM leaders still clutching the NRO card 'get-out-of-jail-free' gifted by Musharraf 16 months ago can face conviction. Not Asif Ali Zardari though. He enjoys presidential immunity.
Do we need a Jesus Christ kind of Lazarus resurrection? Who can resurrect this short-lived ordinance? There are two ways to do it, says Justice Ramday. First, if this parliament validates the November 3 Martial Law by Musharraf, the NRO will automatically revive. The second way (morally better) is for the parliament to make the defunct NRO an act. A simple majority will do it.
As an act of the parliament, the NRO will be indestructible. Bye-bye Supreme Court. PPP breathe easy. The Iftikhar Chaudhrys of this world will be powerless to undo the NRO when made an act. Why then the slugfest? Zardari's two ninjas: Law Minister Naek and Attorney General Khosa have taken the high road against the deposed Iftikhar Chaudhry. The stubborn pair will have a lot to explain once the national shemozzle is over. They have scared away foreign investment making Pakistan lose quadrillion rupees.
Does anyone care? NO!
Things could have been different prior to the Sharifs' ineligibility. Justice Ramday made a last appeal to the president and the prime minister: If the prime minister can be elected unanimously by the parliament; if the president can be elected by a thumping majority, why can't the president permit the prime minister to make the NRO an act of the parliament? Why can't the president permit the prime minister to get the parliament either to validate or invalidate Musharraf's November 3 Martial Law? Prime Minister Gilani could have yet legalized his government. But after yesterday, everything has changed.
The chauvinistic jingoism by the government and opposition points to mass suicide. Their bullheadedness is castrating democracy aided by yesterday's ruling of the PCO judges on the Sharifs. Remember, we are lawless!
The writer is a freelance journalist with over twenty years of experience in national and international reporting.
A country of no laws By Anjum Niaz
Physician, heal thyself. The moral for the Supreme Court is to attend to its own ineligibility rather than declare the Sharifs ineligible.
Honourable Khalilur Rehman Ramday has pronounced Pakistan as a country without laws. Since the November 3 Emergency/Martial Law has neither been ratified nor struck down by this government (as the law dictates), everything that has happened in the interim is "illegal and unconstitutional" slams Justice Ramday, the deposed judge of the Supreme Court. Does it mean that all the laws, high level appointments, agreements and day-to-day governance of the state for the last one year have no legal cover? Dare I say yes? Justice Ramday, pithy in his view, has gone hoarse, literally, warning anyone who cares to listen, that today in Pakistan there is no law! "It's not about restoring chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry or me; it's about the rule of law which today is non-existent."
OK, what's the bailout?
"It's only the constitution that can condone/cancel Musharraf's illegal, unconstitutional and subversive November 3 Martial Law," says Justice Ramday. "The constitution permits the parliament to amend this act by a two-third majority." Since the one-year-old parliament has done no such thing, Justice Ramday's fear that Pakistan will descend into chaos where "mafias, thugs, overlords" will rule is already a reality in Swat and our northern areas. Gulp! The nation has become lawless.
Pakistani tax-payers are spending billions on maintaining the parliamentarians. What have they given us in return? Nothing but more crime, corruption, palace intrigues, terrorism, death and destruction. The slogan 'Democracy is the best revenge' is a good fit for this zombie bunch. "Democracy flows from the rule of law," says Justice Ramday. "This parliament is not a gift from heaven; it's a gift of the constitution. President Zardari's appointment is not divine; it's by the parliament and the constitution." A religious scholar; an expert on constitutional law; a God-fearing Muslim and an outstanding judge, Justice Ramday says: "But if you throw the constitution into the wastepaper basket (as has been done by the present and past governments) God save Pakistan. My heart is bleeding."
And did you know that the NRO is dead?
When did the death occur? Oh, just a couple of months after it was born on October 5, 2007, according Justice Ramday. Hello, the PPP and MQM leaders still clutching the NRO card 'get-out-of-jail-free' gifted by Musharraf 16 months ago can face conviction. Not Asif Ali Zardari though. He enjoys presidential immunity.
Do we need a Jesus Christ kind of Lazarus resurrection? Who can resurrect this short-lived ordinance? There are two ways to do it, says Justice Ramday. First, if this parliament validates the November 3 Martial Law by Musharraf, the NRO will automatically revive. The second way (morally better) is for the parliament to make the defunct NRO an act. A simple majority will do it.
As an act of the parliament, the NRO will be indestructible. Bye-bye Supreme Court. PPP breathe easy. The Iftikhar Chaudhrys of this world will be powerless to undo the NRO when made an act. Why then the slugfest? Zardari's two ninjas: Law Minister Naek and Attorney General Khosa have taken the high road against the deposed Iftikhar Chaudhry. The stubborn pair will have a lot to explain once the national shemozzle is over. They have scared away foreign investment making Pakistan lose quadrillion rupees.
Does anyone care? NO!
Things could have been different prior to the Sharifs' ineligibility. Justice Ramday made a last appeal to the president and the prime minister: If the prime minister can be elected unanimously by the parliament; if the president can be elected by a thumping majority, why can't the president permit the prime minister to make the NRO an act of the parliament? Why can't the president permit the prime minister to get the parliament either to validate or invalidate Musharraf's November 3 Martial Law? Prime Minister Gilani could have yet legalized his government. But after yesterday, everything has changed.
The chauvinistic jingoism by the government and opposition points to mass suicide. Their bullheadedness is castrating democracy aided by yesterday's ruling of the PCO judges on the Sharifs. Remember, we are lawless!
The writer is a freelance journalist with over twenty years of experience in national and international reporting.
Email: aniaz@ fas.harvard.edu
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