Daily Times

Judicial activism is the incumbent debate across Pakistan. After the restoration of judiciary, then Chief Justice Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had also taken up few cases including Karachi law order case which were primarily the responsibility of the elected institutes but eventually ended up in judiciary domain.

In the recent judicial assertion, CJP Saqib Nisar has taken up the suo motto notices which have created a scuffle between the ruling party and apex court. Although SC has visited Karachi and Peshawar to hold PPP and PTI accountable respectively but only PMLN is giving contemptuous remarks against judges. Although, judicial activism is not new, however, the ruling party’s grievances are due to the accountability process against PMLN Supreme.

The existing apex court is giving speedy justice and simultaneously relief to the citizens. That relief includes taking notice of an increase in the tuition fee of medical colleges, health sector, and VIP protocol issue and so forth.

Honourable CJ Saqib Nisar has questioned Sindh government over clean water whereas, PTI was also criticised over their performance in KP.

Nobody is in favour of such activism as the law has restricted the domains for each institute. However, when the civilian leadership fails to deliver and leaves power in a vacuum, it obviously needs to be filled

Former Premier Nawaz Sharif censured that 18 lac cases are pending in SC but CJP is wrapped up in dealing with the governance procedures. However, Sharif forgot to mention the complete truth that these cases are pending due to a lacuna in the criminal justice system and due to lack of funds for the judiciary to form more courts and induction of more judges. The entire responsibility comes on the shoulder of our parliament whose leader of the house for the last 4 years was Nawaz Sharif. How much he has done in revamping it still remains a question.

Nobody is in favour of such activism as the land of law has restricted domains for each institute. But significantly, when the civilian leadership fails to deliver and leaves power in a vacuum, it obviously needs to be filled. However, it is also a fact that civilian leadership have never nourished in Pakistan and power compulsion force them to compromise. But it’s understood that there is no compulsion for civilians to revamp the current public sector circumstances which include basic health and education facilities.

According to article 25A Right to the education of the constitution which categorically states that ‘The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by law.’

The matter of the fact is the leadership which emerged after 1985 elections has never given importance towards education. In fact, the leaders don’t even consider the state responsible to provide free education to the citizens. If this kind of working style is to continue then ultimately some other institute is going to fill the loopholes.

However, the judiciary also understands the activism and the controversy around the recent disqualification verdict of PMLN stalwart Khawaja Asif. In the 325-page verdict, Justice Athar Minallah stated, ‘We have handed down this judgment with a heavy heart not only because a seasoned and accomplished political figure stands disqualified but more so because the dreams and aspirations of 342,125 registered voters have suffered a setback’. Furthermore, judges also observed that parliamentarians must resolve their matters in parliament rather than in law of the court.

Apart from it, many voices of the ruling party claimed of judicial martial law. Subsequently, CJP Saqib Nisar categorically rejected and stood by the democratic process and stated that all 17 judges will resign in case of any extra-constitutional step.

Thus, it is salient to mention that judges are doleful with the conduct of our political parties, but concurrently stands with the civilian supremacy and want them to be resolved within parliament.

The fascinating part in the judicial activism and disqualification is that the parliamentarians have not taken up a single move to cultivate the incumbent activism by addressing the issues raised by the SC. All the political parties are busy in pulling each other’s leg. Due to the repeated mistakes, more parliamentarians are expected to be up in the chopping block under judiciary which is unfortunate.

Before concluding, the party is not over and political parties can revise their conduct to avoid more rift and disqualification from the court. Every supporter of democracy wants our parliamentarians to rectify their actions within parliaments. Politicians have become a jest in our society because of their demeanour.

The writer is an academic. He tweets @muhd_hani

Published in Daily Times, May 3^rd 2018.