Until now it was the politician, bureaucrat, general, businessman and their agents and middlemen who took the judiciary’s flak for being so unscrupulous and evil. But now the gods of fury have turned against the judiciary itself, with the Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar Chaudhry’s good repute coming under a thick fog of allegations against his son, Arsalan Iftikhar; who is alleged to have received millions of rupees from a real estate tycoon, Malik Riaz, in return for a promise to get him off the hook in the cases that are pending against him in the Supreme Court.
The wily Malik does not question the CJ’s integrity, but his conduct: Why did the CJ repeatedly meet him in the dead of night? Why did the CJ meet Prime Minister Gilani at a friend’s house? Why did the CJ take suo motu action against his son so belatedly? Malik promises to explode more information ‘bombs’ about this ‘family-gate’ affair. The coming days and weeks will see more controversies and confabulations, poking more holes into the much-tattered fabric of our public ethics. Political pundits and media gurus are busy exploring the aetiology and effects of this affair in the light of the hearsay and the documentary evidence furnished by Malik. And some fertile minds have already spun a web of conspiracy theories.
Some relate the timing of the scandal to the CJ’s relentless (and highly commendable) drive against the intelligence agencies’ ‘kill and dump’ policy against the Baloch nationalists in Balochistan (and now in Sindh as well). Others ascribe it to President Zardari’s fecund creativity to defang the CJ and malign the judiciary. Still others call it a conspiracy to defame and derail democracy to pave the way for another military takeover. Finally, this scandal is being linked to the Washington-Delhi-Tel Aviv ‘evil troika’ that wants to unhinge Pakistan through institutional crises and politico-economic instability.
Given the elites’ unending fracas and fetid scams, one cannot fault the people for falling for all or any of these conspiracy theories. However, one finds it amiss to see some public figures and opinion makers peddling their own views and agendas by giving spin to the facts and circumstances of the scam. As a result, it is possible we may never get to the bottom of the truth, as per past practice. And that would be tragic if not disastrous because family-gate will impact our individual and collective life for a long time to come in more than one way.
First, it will cause more disillusionment in the public, particularly those who looked up to the higher judiciary led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry as a possible panacea to many an ill that afflict their collective life and governance. They were encouraged by a Chief Justice who took judicial activism to an unprecedented height, employing an otherwise narrowly exercised constitutional power (Article 184(3)) to protect their fundamental rights and chasten the errant state functionaries. True, there also emerged a widely shared perception that the Supreme Court was targeting the incumbent PPP leadership more than the other political parties. Even then, a large number of people believed that the post-Musharraf judiciary was a much reformed and independent institution and the judges were beyond personal taint or cloud. But alas, now that belief is under attack thanks to this family-gate affair.
Second, the media moguls and their ‘powerful’ anchorpersons and reporters will exercise more clout on the course, if not the legal and political outcome, of this scandal. The very fact that the scandal was made public by a bunch of well-known TV anchors reflects the power of the media over the eyes and ears if not the hearts and minds of the people and the powers that be. While the question — whether the CJ long knew of his son’s profligate activities funded by Malik — still begs an answer, a powerful section of the media has already let the CJ off the hook, though such ‘objectivity’ was missing in the case of Prime Minister Gilani when his sons were implicated in their scandals.
Third, family-gate may strain the independence of the higher judiciary, creating a dilemma for the other judges whether to come to the rescue of their Chief Justice, if need be, or save the institution, the judiciary, from an onslaught that may take months, if not years, to fade away, considering the powerful personages, interests and institutions that may be caught in the scam, directly and indirectly. If judges acted as a corporate body and not as the representatives of an organ of state, then that may catapult the state into an institutional deadlock, calling for a supra- or anti-constitutional intervention to ‘save’ the state from imploding. And that would not be a ‘softer’ takeover but a bloodier, priggish and self-righteous putsch, possibly supported by the ultra-rightist exponents of a puritanical ‘Islamic state’. But that would be fatal both for an embattled state and a deeply riven society.
Remember, we have neither a Mao Tze Tung nor a Kemal Ata Turk to command public following. The politically isolated authoritarian rulers will fall back upon the same old rapacious interest groups, the opportunist politicians and the landed, capitalist and financial classes, as did their predecessors. Politically, the regime may prop itself up with political turncoats, and economically by building a consumerist economic bubble. But the basic socio-economic reality would hardly change. Rather, a depoliticised and undemocratic state may face more regional and international isolation and less aid and trade. The resulting political uncertainty, economic deterioration and possibly instability and violence may trigger capital flight and dampen the remittances, leading to a massive devaluation, hyperinflation and default on debt repayment.
The only way to get rid of our ever-scandalous elites lies in reinforcing and utilising democratic institutions — a vibrant parliament, an independent judiciary, an efficient executive, and an unbiased media. And the international community must support this polity, if it desires a stable and responsible Pakistan to play its due role in the region and beyond.
The writer is a lawyer and academic and can be reached at [email protected]