Chief Justice's speech

This refers to Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry's address delivered to a full - court reference on the retirement of Justice Rehmat Hussain Jaffery, on November 22. The theme and gist of the CJ's speech immaculately articulate and eloquently delivered, was that, "strong judiciary can protect other state organs," safeguard democracy, help eradicate corruption, promote good governance and accountability.
Without an iota of doubt, all Pakistanis, without exception, would like to see a 'strong', independent, effective, efficient and, indeed, an incorruptible judiciary which is pro-democracy, pro-constitution, pro-law, non-partisan and transparent that would expeditiously deliver its judicial verdict equitably to all, from the high and mighty to the down trodden and helpless citizens.
During his above address, the CJ went on to suggest that "When courts are perceived to be tolerant of corruption, litigant parties and people lose hope in the justice system." What the CJ has asserted above is a fact, reality and crux of the issue, ie Pakistanis unfortunately do not trust the current judicial system which has failed to live up to the nation's expectations and hope.
The nation had pinned great hopes and had high expectations from the restored judiciary on all above counts. It is, however, unfortunate that none of the citizens' expectation of the judiciary, thus far, has materialised. Consequently, a deep sense of disappointment prevails in the country in this regard. In a nutshell, tangible achievements of the restored judiciary are neither visible, nor known to average common citizens of the country. The country is mired in a state of malaise and status quo prevails as all important legal, constitutional and issues of paramount national importance, seem to have been either put on the back burner or in abeyance. It is an all round standstill situation, period.
It is over a year since the despicable National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), was declared null and void, ab initio. No action has been taken on judiciary's directive to reopen cases relative to money laundering and Swiss bank accounts. Government's review petition in the matter of NRO verdict has been adjourned indefinitely. Legal issues pertaining to appointments, contrary to Supreme Court's directives, are in a state of limbo and seem to have been consigned to some cold storage. How many NRO beneficiaries have been tried in a court of law and punished?
The general public is at a complete loss as to why the issue of 18th Amendment was taken up in preference to the most pressing matter of NRO and Swiss bank accounts? What is more confusing is that the issue of 18th Amendment was a subject of almost daily court hearings for months and yet it remains unresolved. What was then the urgency to take up this issue and defer issues of NRO and money laundering to an indefinite period? Without a doubt, taking suo motu actions on issues of gang rapes, police brutality, price of sugar, (which could not be enforced), disappearing of Nato containers and missing persons is laudable and important. So also, the case of 'missing billions of dollars, which seems to have been put in a cold storage, is of equal, if not greater, national importance.
Similarly, to the utter disappointment and abject dismay of helpless litigants, suffering from long and excruciating torture, whose cases are lingering in courts of law for decades, no tangible progress has been made by the judiciary to provide relief to them and redress the issue.