<\/p>\n
That\u2019s just the thing about justice in the land of the pure \u2014 like beauty, it also lies in the eyes of the beholder.<\/p>\n
Pakistan is nothing if not predictable.<\/p>\n
Take the rather damning allegations and examples about alleged interference and manipulation by intelligence agencies that six judges of the Islamabad High Court set out in a recent letter.<\/a> Now, none of this really comes as a big surprise; we all know manipulation of this kind takes place, whether in the judiciary, the bureaucracy, in Parliament, in the workings of the countless law-enforcement agencies and accountability bureaus or the media.<\/p>\n We also know that a lot of the time, manipulation or coercion isn\u2019t even needed as too many from the ranks of all these groups and institutions are all too eager to offer themselves up, raising their hands and jumping up and down on their chairs like overeager schoolchildren yelling \u201cPick me! Pick me!\u201d to attract the attention of a schoolteacher who is, unfortunately, spoilt for choice when it comes to finding snitches.<\/p>\n Still, it\u2019s interesting to see matters brought out into the open in this manner, exposed like the spy cameras fitted into the polling booths in the Senate<\/a> (that happened in 2021 if you recall) and it\u2019s even more amusing to see how the reactions follow a set pattern.<\/p>\n First, there are the true believers \u2014 righteous and somewhat annoying souls who genuinely want an end to such shenanigans and who actually believe in the whole spiel about institutions doing the job they\u2019re actually supposed to and staying within their mandates for the greater good of the country. All that jazz.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the opposition \u2014 in this case, the PTI and its supporters, who, being the (current) targets of the day have welcomed this \u2018charge sheet\u2019 as vindication of their stance that their party is being singled out and victimised. They will, of course, stand with justice and the Justices and will (probably) take the matter to the streets and shout it from the rooftops, as should be expected from the opposition of the day.<\/p>\n Such manipulation, they maintain, will be the death of justice, freedom and democracy, which is of course what they are fighting for. There must be an investigation and the culprits must be dragged before the people.<\/p>\n Of course, little mention is made here that the letter starts with the case of Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui whose dismissal in 2018 by the Supreme Judicial Council<\/a> was recently deemed \u2018wrongful\u2019<\/a> and took place \u2014 as noted in the letter \u2014 \u201cafter [Siddiqui] had publicly alleged that operatives of the Inter-Services Intelligence led by Major General Faiz Hameed<\/em> (italics my own) were determining the constitution of benches at the IHC and interfering with proceedings of the Accountability Court Islamabad\u201d. Naturally, the part about the IHC judges supporting Siddiqui\u2019s demand of an investigation into this sordid affair is being conveniently ignored.<\/p>\n That brings us to the ruling parties, who are shocked \u2014 simply shocked I tell you! \u2014 at how such manipulation could ever take place, unprecedented and unbearable as it is, and are holding many meetings and setting up a committee to \u2014 once and for all, promise! \u2014 get to the bottom of this.<\/p>\n Now, while they aren\u2019t exactly outright saying that this is a conspiracy against them, their supporters in the mainstream and social media are very much setting up countless straw men to do just that: \u201clook at which party is supporting the judges and you\u2019ll see whose behest this letter was written on!\u201d; \u201cWhy was the letter released now, just when the government was settling in?\u201d; \u201cWhy were the alleged videos only shown to other judges and how do we know they aren\u2019t AI-generated?\u201d; \u201cWhy don\u2019t they also talk about how much the judiciary interferes with the executive?\u201d; \u201cWhy use Helvetica when Times New Roman is a perfectly good font?\u201d.<\/p>\n Okay, I admit I invented that last one but the rest are genuine, if paraphrased, and like most straw men, show evidence of a serious lack of any brains at all.<\/p>\n What\u2019s really cute, of course, is that in 2019, the situation was quite the opposite. In July of that year, Maryam Nawaz Sharif held a press conference<\/a> in which she played a video of the now deceased Justice Muhammad Arshad Malik, the accountability court judge who had sentenced her father, Mian Nawaz Sharif, to seven years imprisonment in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case. In that video, Judge Malik could be seen apparently confessing to a PML-N loyalist that he had been \u2018pressured and blackmailed\u2019 into giving that verdict.<\/p>\nFor and against<\/h2>\n
Roles reversed<\/h2>\n