On Wednesday October 24, 2007, Mr. Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday remarked during the course of hearing of the petition against the eligibility of General Musharraf’s nomination as a presidential candidate, “I am not ashamed if I had taken the oath under the PCO,” “We have made our country, its institutions and the Constitution a matter of laughing stock in the world.” Perhaps he has forgotten General Zia’s famous remark, “Constitution is a book containing 12-13 pages and I can tear it apart whenever I feel like it.” Justice Ramday further said that whatever ‘burble and verbal jugglery’ might be behind the changes made since 1977 in the Constitution, the country had been ruled under the Constitution. If the judge has indeed made these remarks, people should take a serious note. First, the wisdom of the judges making highly controversial political remarks in one of the most important cases of Pakistan’s history, or even otherwise, is seriously questionable and debateable. It is a time honored best practice that judges should speak through their decisions. Leaving that aside, to assert that Pakistan has been ruled under a constitution since 1977 is a joke with the people of Pakistan, an insult to their intelligence, a travesty of justice and a distortion of history. From 1977 to 1988, Pakistan was ruled by a military dictator who did not hesitate to flog his political opponents and journalists under military regulations [On the left: a couple of pictures from that dark period of Pakistan's history]. The view expressed by Justice Ramday, and it is no more than that, similar to views of the likes of – Justice Munir, that stooge of the military dictators, Sharifuddin Pirzada, unsrupulous judges like the Former Chief Justice Nasim Hasan Shah, yes-man judges like the present attorney general Justice (retired) Malik Qayyum – belongs to the dustbin of history. And yes PCO is and was a violation of article (6) of the constitution and judges should at least have the moral courage and humility to admit that they too are ordinary mortals and too meek to resist the force of gun. And by the way, Justice Javed Iqbal should stop giving remarks like “these” people (critics) know nothing or do not know the basics of the law because many of the critics (e.g. Justice Fakhruddin G. Ibrahim) in this country are better qualified and better educated than Justice Iqbal (with due apologies) is. Since he had made this sort of remark on more than one occassion, a comment had become unavoidable. It is symptomatic of a general decline and degeneration of institutions under military or quasi-military regimes that some quite medicore people have risen to senior positions in all branches of the government and the talented and the better ones have opted to work outside the government due to pervasive corruption, low compensation, and a complete lack of meritocracy.
======================================================================
Article (6) of the constitution 6. (1) Any person who abrogates or attempts or conspires to abrogate, subverts or attempts or conspires to subvert the Constitution by use of force or show of force or by other unconstitutional means shall be guilty of high treason. (2) Any person aiding or abetting the acts mentioned in clause (1) shall likewise be guilty of high treason.
[...] salute Chief Justices who go around making speeches about accountability to Allah alone. We reward judges who brazenly justified their own oaths under PCO by making them symbols of democracy. We go crazy over politicians who take a maximalist stance on [...]
AOA:
I feel sorry for the real citizens and durable denizens/ permanent residents of Pakistan. I recall the warning that our Holy Prophet issued 14 centuries ago:
NATIONS WHERE DOUBLE STANDARDS BECOME RAMPANT ARE EXTINGUISHED BY GOD ALL MIGHTY.
We are in A sorry state because of rabid corruption (plots, peccadillodes,. procedure, privileges, parasites, pelf, pomposity, protocol, poly-plots, and pull-AO-Zarda(ri) at the top which is all now drizzling down as cats and dogs and the TricKKKle Effect galore.
We should resist fatalism of QUE SERA SERA (Whatever will be shall be!) and revert and advance towards
QUE SERA SERAT(ATAL MUSTAQUEEM).
We need justice, not In Justice; we deserve chancery, not chicanery.
In stead we have meritbashing and Machiavellian machinations. We are the laughing stock of the civilized world due to our empty-headed leaders who are geedars like our Prime Munstder Gill on Hill, Zardari, Sir NoWas Sharrreef, (including their cutlery of sorts) and rest of the Asstablishment minions as our dself-annointed masters …. resultantly we are suffering LAW OF RULERS, FOOTAS AND CHAMCHAS, in stead of Rule of Law prescribed by our God and mandated by even our truncated Constitution.
Our bane are the bureaucRATS and hyper-hypocritical politicians and legal seagulls (vultures would be a better description) who appear to think that they are eagles and excel in selling pakistan short.
ugggh!
VERY SAD.
I may add that to err is human , but to persist in ones blundders against public interrest (contrary to common good) is swine, unpardonable. In pre-New National Judicial Policy days most judges threw the towel asnd sang along with Mitches (Bhutto, Zia, BB, Nawaz, Mudsh-A-Rough, What Have You, et al) and most of them have become billionaires in the process thrlough UNJUST ENRICHMENT. But there are good judges lik FRamday who made a paradigm shift… tried to change the gtrend/turn the page (not just Fig Leafing “under” the Constitution but DARRRING (featring) the Ruler and Footas of the Hour. That should be appreciated… more so now post-New National Judicicial P. Pakistan has been looted, opressed, exploited and repressed BLUE. Its very survival is at risk. Agt imminewnt stake/stage. Make no mistake.
What we need are merit elevation to the courts and that all judges who received more than 1-kanal plots at peppercporn prices (some got upto 40 plots, like Nasim Hassan Shah or Babu Aslam Riaz, Bark-at-Law the realtor fatherin law of the present Attorney Generasl Errfawn KKKadirr.
It is unfortunate that merit is not appreciated, asnd Dloiuble Standards prevail in our unfortunate Country.
Justice Ramday (whom I have known since 1950-51 when he was in Class 2 or 3 in Multan; and I topped in Vernacular Final from Govt School, Multan now called Govt Pilot School) is right we have become The Laughing Stock of the World. The world is a global-village, and no man, no Land is an island.
Pakistan will be on road to honour and progress if we can contain and control/redress cxorruption, i e double standards be eliminated and swilly-nilly EXORCIZED (wink, it is not Exercised!!). I agree wholeheartedly with Justice Ramday.
I have proposed that since chartity begins, so does JUSTICE-WITH-LOVE (my trabnslation of Addl Bill Ehsawnn), post-New National Judicial Policy judges should bissnmill-LAW/start/shuruvaat with self-restraint, self-accountability … to wit: (and TRANSLATION of the abover withpout cutting corners or shooting from both hips), no more plots and poly-ploting, no progeny projection, no privileges, no peccadilloes, no PatronAGE, no pretexting and absolutely no pricey Protocol. Judges should be known by the quality, impartia;lity and independent (taking no dictation from Powers or populism) justice of/in their Judgments. Those who cannot take heat, should get out of the kitchen. In a 1998 Seminar I rose and said OUR SUPERIOR JUDICIARY IS THE HIGHEST PAID IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND. It was not congtroverted. My law classmate Attorney-General FOR Pakistan (brother of Ramday, LJ) and Tariq Khjosa congratulated me… Then DIG/Faisalabad (I have proposed it shiould be renamed Lyallpur) ezxpressed gratitude that I wrote Artiuckle 164 Law of Evidence (use of polygraph/Lie Detection tests) and the innovative OMBUDSMAN SYSTYEM of Pakistan. I have proposed that KLie Detection NMachines be installed in every courtroom (beginning with Superior Cpourts, High Court/.Supreme Court) and all court proceedings be officially tape-recorded.
OTHERWISE a stanza which the great Indian Prime Minister Satish Gujral (Made in Jhelum) frequently quotes (it is poetry by some Hyderabaadi poet, I forget that name):
YEH QAWTT BHEE DEYKHA TAREEKH KEY GHARYOUNN NAY : PALL BHARR KEY KHITTAW KEY THI, SADDYOUNN KEY SAZAA PAW-EE.
We need triggering of genuine change, real ChangE .. not as fig leaf (as in the past: Sing Along With Mitch) but in order to turn the page, make a paradigm shift…
(MIND YOU : YOU GOTTA MAKE THE OVERDUE/REQUITE STRIVING, NO ONE ELSE WILL BELL THE FAT COWS)….