SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN VACILLATED AGAIN ON NRO DECISION

SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN VACILLATED AGAIN ON NRO DECISION

 

BY Ali Khan

 

The decision of Supreme Court of Pakistan on NRO issue may have shocked or surprised some, but to some of us who have followed the behaviour of Supreme Court of Pakistan in recent years, there were no thunderclap at all.

Some of us weren’t surprised but were expecting this swivet from thePremier Court in Pakistan. I prognosticated it many times in my emails sent to the attention of Chief Justice of Pakistan.

Pakistani Gordon knots are obvious for any independent minded person, whose loyalties are not attached to any particular political party, focus group or any other type pressure group or groupings. Or those who are not under the dictate of any foreign powers, as usually claimed in Pakistani media.

The veracity of the matter is the “Doctrine of necessity” never left the shores of Pakistan, even though it had been venturously advertised many times by the Supreme Court of Pakistan that the dark old ages when this doctrine was used are behind us all.

The issue of notice to Babar Awan by Supreme Court of Pakistan a week ago is case in point. The synthetic doctor had cross the Rubicon a while back, but Supreme Court in its time tested traditions of see no evil, hear no evil kept ignoring his verbiage for years, before finally coming to the realisation that any more delay and foot-dragging would destroy its own credibility beyond repairs.

The factitious Doctor on the other hand took it as “Card Blanche” and kept his tirade going without any arriere-pensee or fear of reprisals. He must have thought Pakistani nation including the Judiciary has accepted and tolerated his daring attacks on the institution of Judiciary as they have assented his fake doctorate, prefabricated from a diploma mill for a pittance.

But there is no doubt whatever were his intentions or if he considers it his sleight, Babar Awan have caused untold contusion to the reputation of PPP inside and outside of Pakistan, with overseas Pakistanis and with those in the foreign media who take interest in Pakistani politics and off course in diplomatic circles.

The case of Babar Awan is the microcosms of the problems faced by Pakistan.

The proclivity of accepting abstruse people with questionable morals and characters in Politics is rancid in Pakistan. Pakistanis acquiesce people either on the basis of their social standings in the society or on the basis of their affiliations with the political parties but never on the basis of morals and characters. Such callousness has brought Pakistan disaster after disaster in domestic as well as international arenas but alas no lessons have been learned.

There is no better example than the fate of a German Defence Minister, to see the difference between the behaviours in Pakistan and how in comparison civilised countries behave.

Ex-Defence Minister of Germany Karl-Theodor Zu Guttenberg was accused of plagiarism in his doctoral thesis.  Guttenberg first admitted “serious mistakes” in his 2006 dissertation but denied cheating. He also offered that he would forgo use of the title “Doctor” to ward off the criticism.

But despite his efforts the furore continued, Bayreuth University then conducted an enquiry and the committee formed by the university found Guttenberg had “grossly violated standard research practices and in so doing deliberately deceived”. The committee concluded “it was obvious that plagiarism was involved”.

Zu Guttenberg resigned before the publications of committee’s findings. He was a rising star in his party Christian Social Union (CSU) and was tipped to go right at the top in the party cadres.

When we compare this incident with Babar Awan’s example we see vast dissimilitude behaviour not only by Awan but his cohorts in PPP and by Pakistani Society at large.

Even though Awan’s doctorate, “a piece of worthless paper” to be more precise was obtained after payment of few hundred dollars to a diploma mill, meagre amount compare to what finances would be required to obtain a doctorate from a reputable University in the West.

But Awan never showed any remorse towards this thimblerig he aimed at Pakistani Nation. On the contrary as expected he showed tenacity in proving his doctorate is bona fide. Only consolation he could claim is that his doctorate was genuinely issued by a bogus university. What can be said, but that Awan think he is a polyhistor at fauxing others. We witnessed him demonstrating it regularly to Pakistani nation. He had been burlesquing his opponents for years, now he is mocking the Judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan too.

Instead of resigning like the German Minister or him completely removed from the public scenes by his party PPP, Awan continued to defy the common sense, logic and decent behaviour.

Zu Guttenberg’s degree was genuine earned after writing a dissertation, albeit a plagiarised one, but nevertheless a dissertation.  Awan’s degree is obtained from a fake university for fistful of dollars and his dissertation no where to be found. But incredulous Pakistani insists to be a genuinely qualified and blameless in the whole saga. His intentions and insistence to be treated as a genuine holder of a doctorate are quite clear from his use of Doctor with his name.

There is another famous ersatz doctor in Pakistani public life; this one pretends to be an Islamic Scholar. The most disturbing part of this imitative’s story is that he in the past has worked for the biggest news organisation in Pakistan before moving to one of their rivals. Even more preposterous and disturbing part is the use of the title “Doctor” with his name in the credits of the programs he presents on the TV despite the fact that his degrees are fake is a public knowledge. His con tricks are not limited to the Doctorate.

The Management of his current employers were requested through a message on their website that use of Doctor with his name in program credits is an insult to Pakistani nation and it is highly questionable on moral grounds, if we leave the legal grounds of such proclamations on one side. Despite full knowledge by his employers both past and present that this man is holding fake degrees including doctorate, the practices to present him as a doctor and an Islamic Scholar have not ceased.

The sole reason for specific mention of these two individuals in public life is to prove that the standards have slipped so much in our public life that we are not only tolerating the mountebank and cozener but are glorifying them.

Recently Babar Awan was issued notice by Supreme Court of Pakistan whether his membership of SC Bar Association should be suspended or cancelled due to his persisting disregard for the sanctity of the highest court in the Land. But why surprisingly the Bar didn’t move far earlier when the facts about Awan’s fake doctorate were publicised? Why he was not ordered to stop using the title of the “Doctor” with his name, otherwise his membership of the Supreme Court Bar Association would be cancelled?

Instead of Babar made to resign from his post of Law Minister and sidelined by his party earlier, he recently resigned from his position on the orders of SC to represent PPP before the supreme court in a case of mammoth importance. But it could be said, it is not hard to understand behind the scenes he probably even now retained control of the Law Ministry.

The moral of the story is when such characters are given importance and are glorified in public life then Pakistanis should expect the downfall of the society and nation as a whole. This foozle in standards in public life is visible in Pakistan, where corruption and disrespect of the Law and state institutions is visible to a besotted person. But alas, Pakistani nation is still not learning from its flubs and making amends.

If what one Journalist has reported is correct after a recent meeting in the President House, it is decided that the Government to engage in a tug-of-war with Supreme Court and not to goose-step with its order to write the letter to the Swiss authorities, then the troubles are just starting for Pakistan. If this news is correct then surely the end of PPP Government is neigh. Or else Supreme Court would loose its pridefulness and authority over the nation. In any civilised society there cannot be different rules and laws for different people.

Any attempts to treat the privileged differently from the masses always create an exclusive society where breakdown in Law and Order is a given certainty. Pakistanis suffering for decades from the contagium to give sui generis treatment to the privileged.

Supreme Court of Pakistan in the past is equally beholden for maintenance of status quo and guilty of treating the privileged above the law. We don’t have to look far in the past, only very recently we had Justice Dogar heading Supreme Court of Pakistan.

What saddens educated Pakistanis is that Supreme Court of Pakistan is still using “Doctrine of necessity” despite denying it. I sensed it few months ago and wrote an email for the attention of Chief Justice, where I gave example of a small town magistrate in the UK who would send the misfeasor, purloins contrabands to the jail if they are proven guilty. I compare the decisions of magistrate to the decisions of Supreme Court of Pakistan where those who have misappropriated billions in Rental Power Plants fiasco are going Scott-free as long as they return the loot back. Even a Minister conveniently made an excuse of not knowing how millions of rupees dropped in his bank accounts without his notice. To no one surprise he got away with it by returning the money. Where as in the UK a small town Magistrate would have sent each and every larcenist to the Jail or order community service no matter if even a small amount was stolen.

This is such a travesty of justice that it may not be matched by any civilised nation on the face of the earth. Seeing such lax attitude of the Judiciary in Pakistan, world criminals have started to demand the same treatment, if we get caught we return the loot back and viola our misdemeanours are forgotten. Imagine if such laws persist in the world, the criminals would have a field day. This is precisely what is happening in Pakistan, criminals are having a field day. One has to look at the news in Pakistan, everyday filled with violence, death and destruction. If world started to call Pakistan a banana republic then we shouldn’t be surprised or caterwaul. It saddened me to no ends but truth must be told, as Iqbal said “Mujhe hai hukam-e-Azan”.

There is no doubt, Monday should be the end of Supreme Court tether and they will hit the culprits with the full force of the Law.

There is call for sanity to prevail and compromise to reach. This could be yet another big mistake Supreme Court would make to keep the old tradition of “doctrine of necessity” alive and kicking.

All those who are raising such voices are not really friends ofPakistanthey are actually the real enemies. The voices of status quo, who wants the current contrivance to continue. What their demand is to continue exculpate the acts of the guilty and keep pretending nothing happened and compromise for the sake of the country. This is not actually a compromise for the sake of the country but an open animosity and treason against the country. It would only delay the inevitable.

When magma simmers under the surface it is bound to erupt sooner or later. We would be in similar situation again, a cast iron guarantee, probably more quickly than many realise. When people like Babar Awan started to feel they are heroes, a nation should start getting worried, seriously.

The judges could bring the country back from the percept and hand over sever punishments to those who have refused to implement its decision starting from the Prime Minister and the President. Especially the Prime Minister Gilani has to be made an example for his failure to implement Supreme Court’s orders for over two years. For Pakistan it is now or never, any dithering by the premier court in the land would only be delaying the inevitable, wisdom tell us.

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