With the failure of the newly elected government to solve the crisis facing the judiciary and the restoration of the deposed judges so far, the systems of the rule of law and justice have become a mockery. In Pakistan, the legitimate holder of the position of chief justice, Iftekhar Choudhry has been given the protocol of the chief justice but not the real power of the chief justice though everyone including the newly elected government is agreed that he is the genuine holder of this position. The delay in carrying out the promises to put him in charge of the affairs of justice is a major crisis facing the nation and everyone who is seeking justice. The other chief justice, who was put in place by unscrupulous power manipulation by the then military chief, General Musharraf, is still working as the chief justice. This is not just a comical situation only, but an enormous crisis that is spread into all areas of life. The ending of this mockery and bringing Iftekhar Choudhry to his legitimate position is a primary condition to restore confidence in justice.
The confusion about the restoration of deposed judges and the judicial crisis is deepening day by day. The government, again for the third time, urged the committee working on the issue of the restoration of the deposed judges, to formulate a consensus resolution for approval from the National Assembly. This time, on April 30, again a new committee was formed in which a representative of President Musharraf was included to present the views of the president who deposed the judiciary along with the president of the Supreme Court Bar association. Concerned by the dysfunctional nature of the committee one of the members, Justice (rtd) Fakhr Uddin Ibrahim resigned in protest against the inclusion of the presidents representative. He was also concerned by the seemingly casual attitude of the federal minister of law who is the head of the committee. Justice Fakhr Uddin Ibrahim is a much respected judge as he resigned from the Supreme Court at a time when another former dictator, General Zia Ul Haq introduced his own tailored constitution, the PCO. The attitude of the law minister can be judged by his comment on the resignation of Justice Ibrahim that if he wants to take a side then he (justice Ibrahim) is free to do so. In the meantime, the bar associations of the country have shown resentment over the way government is dealing with the issue of the restoration of the judiciary.
The new committee, formed by the government, is assigned to make proper placements of those judges who had taken oaths under the rule of emergency through General Musharrafs tailored constitution, the PCO. This new assignment to the committee is itself against the written agreement (Muree declaration of March 9, 2008) of the coalition ruling parties who announced that the judges who had not taken oath under emergency rule would be restored within one month of the formation of the new government.
The judicial crisis is hampered by the attempt to retain those judges who sided with President Musharraf when the whole country was agitating against the state of emergency and the suspension of the constitution and fundamental rights. Through the parlays of the committee, the restitution of the chief justice Mr. Iftekhar Choudhry has become a controversial issue and the government of Mr. Yousaf Gillani is considering the reduction of his tenure as chief justice to 2009, whereas according to the constitution, Mr. Justice Iftekhar Choudhry should remain until 2013. To divert attention from the issue of the restitution of the judiciary the government has postponed the by-elections of the assemblies which were scheduled to be held on June 18, 2008. The advisor for the interior asked the election commission to postpone the elections until August 18. Shortly afterwards all the government institutions started blaming each other for the postponement.
The dodging tactics of the newly elected government on the issue of the restitution of the 60 deposed judges including 17 judges of the Supreme Court, will severely damage the rule of law, supremacy of the judiciary and even the civilian rule of the country. It will, in fact, work to strengthen the designs of the military generals who do not want a free and independent judiciary. Since the formation of the civilian, elected government in the country all the day to day problems of the ordinary people have been left aside and the government is not even attempting to solve them.
The government must not delay the restoration of the deposed judges, it must follow its own Murree Declaration and avoid any real threat from the presidency of dissolving the national assembly. They should also understand that the restitution of the deposed judiciary favours the future democracy and rule of law and the very survival of the present government itself as a democracy. Providing time for the military to manipulate the situation in its favour can cause political instability which in turn will be used for the justification of the further enhancement of military power.
