Daily Times

On his last bowl as the chief justice of Pakistan, Justice Umar Atta Bandial managed to open just one more – deadliest of all – can of worms for the entire ruling elite. By striking down sections of NAB law amendments and directing courts to proceed as mandated by the law, a 2-1 majority decision by the Supreme Court appears to have given a constitutional acknowledgement to the accountability watchdog and its prior activities against politicians.

The verdict proclaimed how it could not allow the “fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan (to be) violated by each and every section.” That no one should be given the leeway to twist their position to evade accountability. Ever since a close-to-midnight bill had been passed by the previous government with an intent to strike at around 90 per cent of the NAB cases, a deafening ruckus had erupted over a “license to corruption.” Just as before, an uproar would ensue from the affected parties. One pound of the honourable gavel has pushed many bigwigs into hot waters and they won’t let go without a fight. However, just a cursory glance at judgments like that passed in Khawaja Saad Rafique would suggest that the honourable Supreme Court had itself raised pertinent questions against accountability laws as they cause “further degeneration and create chaos” due to being employed as “tools to change political loyalties.”

In the past, almost all accountability efforts by government after government have fallen flat on their faces, thanks to political victimisation. We cannot afford to go back to the comprised era where the credibility of an entire institution was dismantled because those at the top were keen on wearing partisan-tainted glasses. It is for this reason alone that the legislature and judiciary need to cross the t’s and dot the i’s together if they wish to ensure a system whose reputation remains unblemished and whose mandate is as hard as stone. *