Our parliamentarians belonging to the ruling class were all unanimous in molesting and abusing the rule of law when they passed an amendment bill barring penalty whatsoever on the contempt of court. This discriminatory law was passed in no time only to serve the so–”called elite class specially the ones called our ministers etc. This group of the rulers mostly constitute, with few exceptions, the more corrupt, fraudulent and unprincipled people who lack the basic human character, leave alone being the people with a spirit of justice and fairness. They have now girded up their loin on abusing the constitution and the rule of law. How many of them are the holders of fake degrees, is no more a secret now. Don’t be surprised at this legislation since it testifies our parliament to be a rubber stamp in the hands of the corrupt rulers using it for covering their corrupt practices.
Such dismaying adventures are done against the interest of the people at the hands of those elected by the hapless people to safeguard their interest at the national level. However, the people so elected to this higher forum are always a special class and their interest is always in conflict with the interest of the general masses, the backbone of the country. We understand that the present inept rulers have crossed all limits of bad governance, corruption, mismanagement, dishonesty, incompetence and have completely destroyed the most vital institutions of the state thus shattering both the economy and prestige of the country. The only institution left was the Highest Judiciary which had been revived with great sacrifices of both the public and the legal fraternity and which is still going through a phase of remodeling and further improvement. This very important institution, which has been providing relief to the common man without discrimination and is looking after the interest of the State, has become an eye sore for the corrupt ruling elite. Unfortunately the people’s assembly whose members enjoy full benefits and privileges by the dint of the common man’s vote is being misused as rubber stamp by the selfish rulers to serve their very vested but temporary interests and whims. It means that the parliament a representative body of the public has turned against the same public by helping the corrupt rulers in conspiracies to demeanor the rule of law which is a source of inspiration for the common people.
The Higher Judiciary has proved during the last few years to be the only ray of hope for the hapless public and a cover of safeguard for the national institutions. The current legislation relating to the contempt of court is quite discriminatory and antagonistic to the basic spirit of the constitution of Pakistan and will not be permitted to become a part of the constitution as it divides the nation into two different and distinct segments; one being a novel and strange group of certain creatures of the class of sacred cows exempted from the rules and law of the country. They will be free to abuse the honorable judges and judicial institutions, dishonor them openly, maligning them publicly in the courts and in the press conferences. There will be nobody there to question their obscenity since they will easily say, “We are special breed, above the Law and rule and whatever abuses we are using against the judiciary or judges is in the largest interest of the public and that we are exempted from any censure since we are covered by the provision of this discriminatory law”. The example is how this so-called powerful institution was abused by the ruling few when its unanimously adopted resolution in relation to the NATO supply was put at the tip of the shoes. What a wonderful legislation! Is there no one in the ruling party with healthy thinking who could use his sense of being a human being let alone a representative of the people and being one from the elite and responsible class of Pakistanis? Is the Assembly burdened all with people like Bushra Gawhar, Aitizaz, Farouq. H. Naek, Kaira, Adeel, latif Khosa etc; who are proving themselves, through their attitude to be blindfolded and driven astray by their vag rant wishes? Mind that many a time the so-called educate people behave like “Juhala” (illiterate) when they are taken over by their vested interests and selfishness.
Are the two houses of the public representative completely depleted from the men of conscience and the ones guided by rules and regulations? Are all of the members of the prestigious forums the slaves of the interests of the few individuals in the higher herearchy of the ruling class? Is there no one who can sacrifice his short-term but very mean interests on the interest of justice and the nation at large? Are we slouching towards a scenario where we are doomed to be ruled under a system of governance that had been prevailing in the era of Ranjeet Singh during the early years of the 19th century? The public should understand that the rulers are in no mood to abide by the rule of law. They tend to be dictators without uniforms and at times worst than the military dictators of the past. We do remember when one Civilian marshal law administrator and the so-called Awami leader and now a ‘shaheed’ of the ruling party had ordered the dragging out of the public representatives from the legislating house. Those degraded and mishandled included honorable men like the Islamic Scholar and one of the most reverend personalities of the legislative body, the late Maulana Mufti Mehmood of the JUI. We remember the same civilian dictator who had banned the most patriotic political party of Pakhtoons, the then NAP and had put her respectable elders behind the bar. It is also disgusting for the Pukhtoons to see that the followers of the great Pakhtoon icon, the late Khan Abdul Wali Khan are following the inept ruling group in the center blindly in all their wrong policies.
The current group who are at the helm of the affairs have the ill intention of dragging the country into the duress of fascism as is evident from their very abusive attitude towards the judiciary and the law of the country but they will never succeed since the common man is now quite alert and cannot be easily beguiled by the self-seeking rulers. This legislation will be challenged not only in the highest court of law but will also turn as a scornful subject in the eyes of the common man. If the ruling conglomeration does not behave in a democratic way under the rule of law they will find the masses of Pakistan one day on the roads and the rulers will not be able to find any shelter like we have seen dictators in the Arab Word in the recent past. It is for their benefit that they surrender before the law and give up treating the Pakistani public to be their drum-driven cattle. They should give democracy a chance and should not create hurdles in its way as they themselves claim it to be panacea for all ailments.
It is in their own interest that they should abide by the law and give up their hegemonic attitude which they are adopting for continuation of their very much unpopular rule. No country can survive where its rulers in the higher herearchy are adamant to the rule of law and constitution. The rulers should not try to mislead the general public on repeating every time the slogan of the superiority of the parliament. In a true democracy, of course Parliament is superior in so far as the question of making of legislation goes. However, the interpretation of the law is the domain of the highest judiciary as envisaged by the same legislative body, the parliament. Moreover in a democratic dispensation, the capricious rulers cannot be allowed to misuse the Parliament to legislate things that are in contradiction and in complete antagonism to the basic spirits of the constitution.
The rulers have had sufficient time of ruling this country on their term. They have established unbeatable examples of inefficient rule and bad governance. It is in their own as well as the public interest that they should avoid tactics of prolonging their incompetent rule and leave the masses of Pakistan to choose their new representatives. Any hindrance and obstacle to be manipulated by the rulers will be against the interest of the nation. The new prime minister should be a wise man not to prefer the one man’s interests on the risk of the interest of the nation. He should prove himself to be loyal to his oath of allegiance to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and not to the President of his political party who wants to betray the nation by avoiding any investigation to his alleged corruption of laundering money and to obstruct the way of writing letter to the Swiss Government. If he is innocent, he should let the law take its course in the normal way. It is in his interest that he should get his clarity from the court of law against his incrimination in the alleged cases of corruption.
