Daily Times

There does not appear any headway on cutting the proverbial Gordian knot. As chaos over the raging battle between government and opposition keeps intensifying, thanks to the never-ending press conferences, the superior judiciary has just as passionately decided to become a constant feature of the melodrama. If, on one hand, the rifts with the coalition government over polls in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa heralded an end to the much-revered separation of power, ugly fault lines within the institution are hell-bent on robbing it of its prestige, blow by blow. Instead of making a grand spectacle of the differences in their approaches, the serving chief justice would have been better off coming to a consensus with his fellow members of the bench in an amicable manner. With every deadline that comes and goes without any substantial development, the public’s trust in the honourable pillar of the state to usher in a new era of peace diminishes even further.

That he wishes for both parties to remain present in a bid to be viewed as neutral builds upon the oft-quoted aphorism: “Justice must not only be done but must also be seen to be done.” However, this success should also be followed with reasonable expediency. Call it the weakness of those supposed to be the leading lights of the strength of the cracking whip, whosoever appeared to land with the short end of the rope has done everything in their might to smear mud over the said judge’s credibility. Isn’t it purely ironic that a head-on collision between the executive and the judiciary has very conveniently sidelined the actual source of their authority: the golden scroll, the sacrosanct constitution of Pakistan?

As long as those donning the pristine robes continue to make light of the all-encompassing code of conduct (that should dictate their verdicts and their actions), their alliances–as per individual agendas–would haunt the reliability of the entire institution. *