To legalize the immoral

Laws are made by lawmakers. Lawmakers can bend, twist, break and remake the rules and "privileges" that govern a country. The role of the lawmakers in a democracy is to make laws that create justice for those whom they represent. However, when lawmakers are intent on representing their own vested interests, they will make laws to safeguard their own interests. There is a lot of talk on abiding by the laws, rule of law, law enforcement, etc., which is a good debate to have. What is needed is to expand this debate to include which laws are serving the public to create a more just and equal society and which laws are doing the opposite. Laws have increasingly become more than sacrosanct. Do not question, do not dispute, do not change, except to serve those who make them.
Some laws have become holy cows that cannot be touched. Police laws that govern three provinces of Pakistan - Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan - are 150 years old, made in 1861 by the British. Our lawmakers in the 3 provinces are happily preserving and protecting this ancient and antique law system as it serves their interest. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the only province which has changed this law to bring in the KP Police Act 2017. On the other hand, the 'honourable' lawmakers have made multiple changes in laws that suit their 'stature". VIP lounges on airports, Protocols, no payment on toll booths, etc, are some minor examples of how alert and active they are on the minutest "perk" that benefits them and how lax and indifferent they are when it comes to providing not perks but basic rights to the public.
Take the police Act. Why has it never been tinkered with? Because it serves the purpose of the lawmakers. Police is a law enforcement agency. However, historically, it only enforces laws on are the poor, the helpless, the uninfluential and the unprivileged. The 1861 Police Act was made by the British, which called Police not a Police Service but a Police "Force". This name was deliberately chosen to subjugate, control and suppress the Sub-continent people into enslavement. The British Empire was busy in occupation of foreign lands and needed a Force to execute their plans. That legacy has been dearly preserved by the feudal and political elite of Pakistan to create this completely unjust system of using the law enforcers to harass, penalize and punish those who dare to speak against them. A recent classic example of this mentality and brutality is the land mafia group of a family in Lahore. Most of the members of this family are parliamentarians and have built real estate fortunes by annexing land and using their own "force" or police force to take over property illegally. They have built a place named after their clan in the area occupying land of poor people including widows and orphans. It was not the police but the Chief Justice's suo motu that has now revealed billions of rupees of illegal property mafia.
The most mind-boggling law is the law of "production order" that allows jailed parliamentarians to attend the proceedings of the assembly. The Rule 108 of 2007's Rule of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly states that the speaker or the head of a committee can issue production orders of a parliamentarian or member of the committee, who is under custody for a non-bailable offence, if his presence is considered necessary. Imagine the financial and ethical dilemma this causes. Financially, the cost of transporting the "convict" or accused from jail to the assembly involves huge costs. Sometimes, a "special plane" is hired to transport a parliamentarian from one city to another costing millions of taxpayer money. The cost of security to keep them in the assembly and house them in "ministerial enclave" is an insult to the injury of a taxpayer already robbed by these convicts. The whole purpose of punishing offenders becomes futile as they come in heavy security protocol, live in lodges and enclaves, and attend assembly proceedings. Thus, the production order law to allow parliamentarians who are on criminal charges to enjoy these "privileges" is a blatant example of how they have colluded to make laws to protect their unlawful acts.
Another VIP law is Rule No. 242 of Pakistan Prisons Rule 1978, which allows various classes of prison conditions and facilities to convicts. Nawaz Sharif previously and presently has been allocated "better" or B class jail facilities. The "better class" jail means mattress, furniture, clothes and food from the house as well as a lawn to walk and newspapers to read. This is like a hotel chain where you have 3 star to 5 star facilities. Consider the extent of charges and the penalty. While petty thieves who have stolen a few thousands are housed in crammed inhuman jail conditions, political convicts are housed in "better" class facilities. What could be a bigger paradox. This rule is also a colonial inspiration when "better class" facilities in jail were tied to levels of education, etc. Obviously, the more educated English criminals could get the benefit of 4 star jails while ordinary thieves of the Sub-continent were kept in dungeons.
Times change but if mindsets do not change, things remain the same. Public representatives in democracies all over the world are supposed to be subservient to public needs. British Parliamentarians had to resign on a mere 200 pounds expense they made which could not be money trailed and justified. They live in ordinary abodes and go about their business in public transports. In Pakistan, parliamentarians have made laws to treat themselves as above all. Any tinkering in these shameful privileges induces huge protest from them. When it was declared that VIP immigration and lounge facilities will no longer be available to parliamentarians, two eminent Senators from two eminent parties were outraged and protested that how dare this "traditional privilege" is being withdrawn without their consent. The duty of every lawmaker is not just to legislate but legislate on the basis of the constitutional principles of equality, justice and non-discrimination. It is when laws are based on the principle of self-service rather than public service that they create more injustice. As Abraham Lincoln rightly said, "No law can give me the right to do what is wrong".
(The writer can be reached at [email protected])