Restoring Judges in Pakistan

It is after sometime that there is a good news from Pakistan this week. The movement for the restoration for the judges has succeeded, leading to joy and triumphal sphere in the streets of Pakistan. But the question is would such a win be enough in itself for the judicial freedom in Pakistan?

It was on 9th of March 2007 that the last military dictator in Pakistan Musharraf sent the sitting Chief Justice of Pakistan to home on the charges of corruption. In fact an independent minded Chief Justice had taken certain decisions that went against the wishes of General and his regime. The general was scary that the sitting Chief Justice might create hurdles in his way of extending his period of rule for next five years following elections planned at the end of 2007.

The dismissal of the Chief Justice led to a nationwide movement for independence of judiciary and constitutional rule under the leadership of lawyers forums through out the country. Later different civil society groups and, reluctantly, political parties also joined the movement. The Supreme Court restored the Chief Justice on 20the July 2007, however the tensions between the presidency and judiciary continued, until Musharraf declared emergency on Nov 3, 2007 and sending all defiant judges back home and installing a Supreme Court of his liking. This again caused a nationwide protest and demonstrations from all segments of Pakistani society. In the meantime Musharraf elected himself president for the next five years through the existing Parliament--- an act that was never accepted by the judiciary, civil society and other opposition groups.

In the meantime he promised to hold elections in January 2008, although people were reluctant about the fairness of the election procedures. During the election campaign, under the threat of militants and ‘the war against terrorism’ at the areas bordering Afghanistan/Pakistan, a sadist event in the recent history of Pakistan occurred. A popular leader madam Bhutto was murdered during her election campaign in Rawalpindi. It put black clouds on actual events of elections, however it were held in February 2008. The election results saw a winning for the Bhutto’s PPP, while another major party PML(N) of Sharif also got a major chunk of votes mostly in Punjab, thanks to pro-judiciary standing of Sharif.

The two major parties, PPP, under Zardari, and PML(N) initially joined hands together, under national reconciliation, to form coalition government at federal level. A prominent point in the accord was restoration of the defiant judges deposed by the Musharraf regime. The early enthusiasm between the coalition partners seems to evaporate as the PPP-head Zardari turned reluctant to restoration of judiciary. The later feared that it may led to reopening of corruption cases against him and other stalwarts of his party. In August 2008 the two parties again decided to fulfill the promise but before that they jointly compelled Musharraf to resign from his post. When the PPP government again turned reluctant in fulfilling this promise, the Sharif decided to come out of the coalition government. In the meantime the lawyers and civil society protest continued for the restoration of judiciary, which now got also an obvious support of PML(N).

The pro-judiciary movement decided for a Long March, ending in dharna, a sit-in, in the month of March on the eve of two years of the movement. This time different political parties and other social groups joined the movement. The Long March started on 12th of March and it should have led to dharna in Islamabad on the 16th of March. The Long March from Lahore on the 15th turned into a pitch battle between the protestors and the Police; the Police even was reluctant to charge the protestors considering their cause. When the March left Lahore it continued turning into a big mass protest in which people from all walks of life participated. Considering the nature of the March the ruling party, along with military blessings, decided to fulfill this demand of the people, and restored the deposed judges.

The restoration of deposed judges called a definite end to the Musharraf era political maneuvers, however it is still a beginning to a long journey to the independence of judiciary in Pakistan. Interestingly the restoration of judiciary occurred in the same week when in one Northern area, Swat, where, under Taliban threat, the civil judiciary was replaced with the sharia-based Adal system. How the later will work, the jury is still out on that, however it present a challenge to the judicial system for which the rest of Pakistan was protesting. In a country that already lives under economic crisis and rising Taliban militancy the success of pro-independent judiciary movement is a hope in shrouded circumstances.