Shifting the responsibility

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court (SC) asked the additional advocate general to take up the missing persons’ issue with the government and ask parliament to legislate in order to resolve the matter. The SC observed that the issue was sensitive in nature and parliament should come up with legislation to deal with it. With all due respect to the apex court, the missing persons’ issue was taken up by the SC and it should have been pursued by the court to fruition. Shifting the responsibility at this critical juncture to a weak parliament will not necessarily resolve the issue. The missing persons’ issue is a very critical one. It involves our intelligence agencies like the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence (MI) and other such agencies, particularly in Balochistan where the Frontier Corps (FC) is running a parallel government. Families of the thousands of missing persons, especially from Balochistan, believe that our intelligence agencies are behind their disappearances. Many a time, the apex court has ordered that the heads of the ISI, MI and other agencies appear before the court but so far this request has not been entertained.

When General Pervez Musharraf sacked Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar Chaudhry back in 2007, many people believed that one of the reasons was the missing persons’ issue that CJ Chaudhry had taken up. When the deposed CJ and judiciary were restored in 2009, it was expected that they would pursue the missing persons’ case. Though the cases have been heard, the SC’s appeal to parliament seems like the apex court has given up and does not want to take any further responsibility in this matter. Commission after commission was set up by the apex court to tackle the matter, but nothing came of it.

It is well known that the real power in Pakistan lies with the military and security establishment. Anyone or any institution that challenges this establishment is asking for trouble. If the independent judiciary can take the democratically elected government to task on a host of issues, it should be equally willing to take the establishment to task. It is a sad day for Pakistan when the judiciary, in which millions of people had put their faith, shifts responsibility off its shoulders and onto parliament’s.

(my editorial in Daily Times)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Persecution without reason

Universities all over the world tend to hire people with a sound academic background as they want the best for their students. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan did the same when they hired Dr Ghazala Anwar as Deputy Dean of Usul-ud-Din (Islamic jurisprudence) at the women’s campus of International Islamic University (IIU) in Islamabad. Dr Ghazala earned her PhD in philosophy and religious studies from the Temple University (USA) in 1993, with teaching and research interests in Islamic jurisprudence, gender issues, Sufism and sexuality. She was appointed at the IIU under the Foreign Faculty Hiring Programme after her application was reviewed by a Peer Review Committee of scholars. Dr Ghazala Anwar has been part of a movement that has been trying to fight for the just treatment of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Intersex and Questioning (LGBTIQ) Muslims. The movement does not preach to others to become homosexuals, but asks Muslims to be tolerant of these “sexual m
Read more

Protesters demand Imran Khan resign

Islamist party leader Maulana Rehman leads thousands to capital, gives PM two-day ultimatum Tens of thousands of protesters, led by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, took out a march in Islamabad on Friday, demanding the resignation of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. “You have two days, we cannot show more patience,” Mr. Rehman warned the Premier. If Mr. Khan doesn’t resign in two days, “he will not be able to stop people from entering the Prime Minister’s House”, he said. “Nawaz Sharif had heard this, so had Asif Zardari. Now, they [establishment] should also hear what we are saying,” said Mr. Rehman in a pointed message to the establishment. ‘Stay here’ “Only the people of Pakistan have the right to rule over Pakistan; no institution has the right to impose itself over us,” said Mr. Rehman. “Stay here my friends, do not move... they have to resign in two days, you the people will decide what your decision is. It was your vote that was snatched from yo
Read more

We will shut down entire Pakistan, says Maulana

Maulana Fazlur Rehman says the protests will continue and that Imran Khan’s government should go. As the two-day ultimatum he issued to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan expired on Sunday night, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said the protesters will continue the sit-in until their goals are met. “We have decided that we will not go to any tribunal or Election Commission or any court. The PTI’s (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf) foreign funding case is still lying around with the Election Commission after five years. This ‘illegitimate’ ruler’s foreign funding case has not been decided, how will this Election Commission settle rigging cases?,” he said while addressing ‘Azadi March’ in the capital on Sunday. “This is a movement. After this march, we will not stop our journey… Today, we have shut down Islamabad. Tomorrow we will shut down the entire country. Today, we have a huge rally here; tomorrow we will make the entire Pakistan a rally-ground,” he said.
Read more