Daily Times

The removal of Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad High Court is a red-letter day, for all those who want a Pakistan based on rule of law and justice. This might upset some people, given that Siddiqui, has become a cause for even some liberals in recent times, but they are not fully acquainted with the facts and nor have they actually suffered through the years of his bigoted tyranny at the High Court in the Federal Capital.

It must of course, give pause to our state institutions that the easiest thing today to rile up would be democrats to utter the words “Deep state is after me” and unthinking — would be — democrats would rally around to support the person.

I do not question the intentions of those democrats who take this view of things — i.e. that Shaukat Siddiqui was not accorded due process — and argue that we should be prepared to extend the courtesy to even those we disagree with. It is true that the principle should hold true, that even if the accused is someone we vehemently disagree with. That is why we have the idea of due process. However one cannot help but marvel, at those people who unthinkingly bought Shaukat Siddiqui’s tall tales and yarn, which were unbelievable — not just in the way they were spun but — because it would impute some measure of naivety to the establishment. They may be a lot of things, but naïve they are not. Siddiqui was the last person, given his propensity to shoot off the way he does, they would have approached in this manner. Make any commission and hold as many hearings as you want and you will find the same result. It may be stated that perhaps, the SJC proceedings could have been public but regardless the law provides for in-camera proceedings. If someone has a problem with the law, the way to resolve it is to change it for the future.

I can freely say that there are genuine cases of dissenters, who have suffered at the hand of the deep state; but Siddiqui was most likely not one of them. His reference on his abuse of authority as a judge was in the final stages of adjudication. Naming the ISI at the Rawalpindi Bar Association; was a desperate move on his part to thwart that reference. He had calculated; that he would never be dismissed after that, because people would point to this speech and say that it was because of the speech that he was removed.

A judge, so long as he claims to act in the name of Islam, can flout the law and constitution of the land with impunity. He was a discredit to countless democrats who actually have been resisting bigotry and state excesses

The SJC took the bull by the horns and removed him precisely because of the speech. Justice Khosa’s opinion on the matter is legally sound. A Judge has to maintain proper conduct and not air grievances of this kind publicly, even if they are true which in this case is highly unlikely. A High Court Judge is vested with a lot of legal and constitutional authority to resist pressures, but in Siddiqui’s case, he was so badly compromised that he thought this was his last chance of saving himself and becoming the Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court. Thank God Pakistan was saved from this calamity. It would have been a calamity far worse than 11 years of misrule by General Zia-ul-Haq.

It is easy to predict what his next move is going to be. Not only is he going to continue to repeat his claims, which I may add he failed to substantiate even slightly, before the SJC, but he will also bring in the bogey of Quaidiani conspiracy against him. He will argue that he was removed, because he had dared to pen the judgment, against the most hapless marginalized community in Pakistan; calling them traitors and enemies of Islam. Anyone who has read that terrible judgment by Siddiqui knows; that it was entirely unconstitutional and completely contrary to the fundamental rights of citizens. It may also have been occasioned by the fact that the reference against him was about to be decided. The interim Law Minister had vowed to appeal the decision but nothing of the sort happened. It was clear that the government was not interested in safeguarding the rights of its citizens.

Two years ago, this judge restricted the rights of young people to harmless entertainment on Valentine’s Day, with a spurious order that makes no legal or constitutional sense. Late Asma Jahangir had said about him that he was suited to be a conservative sectarian cleric but not a judge. Asma Jahangir was amongst countless lawyers this judge abused verbally. No one dared to take him to task for that and it in this; that the weakness of our legal system truly lays. A judge, so long as he claims to act in the name of Islam, can flout the law and constitution of the land with impunity. Well in that case I certainly do not care if he has been dispatched because he spoke against a holy cow. He was a discredit to countless democrats who actually have been resisting tyranny in the country.

The battle for rule of law must be fought but Siddiqui was not the battlefield. A dark veil has been lifted from atop the future of Islamabad High Court on October 11, 2018. This is something to celebrate not mourn! In some ways it is even more significant that there are perfectly legal and justifiable reasons, for his removal which should have come into play whether or not the establishment actually pressurised anyone.

This is not to say that what has been going in the country otherwise is justified. The treatment meted out to Nawaz Sharif and his family, is deplorable and a clear miscarriage of justice in my opinion. However that remains true whether or not Siddiqui, becomes a martyr to the cause. He is not a martyr and he is not a worthy cause. Learn to savour victory where you can, because they come rarely in this land of ours.

The writer is practicing lawyer and was a visiting Fellow at Harvard Law School in Cambridge MA, USA. He blogs at http://globallegalforum.blogspot.com and his twitter handle is @therealylh

Published in Daily Times, October 15^th 2018.