EDITORIAL: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwarul Haq Kakar should be appreciated for stepping out of the politically correct straitjacket that comes with the position of the chief executive and dropping some inconvenient truth bombs during a sharp exchange with reporters at Islamabad’s Business Facilitation Centre.
And while a lot of what he said merits careful analysis and deep thinking on the part of the state and the press – especially the bit about issues of Baloch families being allegedly projected in sharp contrast to reality – his observation about the criminal justice system, and how badly it requires improvement, hit the nail on the head and put the spotlight squarely on perhaps the severest institutional problem in this Islamic republic.
Did anybody really notice in all these years of the fight against terror, as he rightly asked, that as many as 90,000 Pakistanis were put in early graves yet not even nine people were convicted and put in prison for it? How shameful, indeed, that we’re forced to respect the sanctity of the judiciary – and forever live in fear of contempt charges if we ever question the sense of priority of their lordships – even as that pillar of the state has entrenched itself as one of the most inefficient, incompetent and corrupt institutions in the land.
We need look no further than documented reports by credible outfits like Transparency International for undeniable proof of this fact. Yet we must still submit a halo of appreciation to it lest we find ourselves, so paradoxically, on the wrong side of the law itself.
The truth, however inconvenient, is that the caretaker PM’s statement was in fact an understatement. The entire legal system needs not just improvement, but a complete overhaul. When justice delayed becomes the norm rather than the exception, and greased palms litter the judicial landscape, then a complete reset becomes the only option. Let’s not forget that the judiciary is the most important of all pillars of any democratic state.
Once it cracks, the entire edifice crumbles. The caretaker PM was also spot on that it is not the job of the interim setup to initiate or implement such reforms.
He was also right that once such steps have been taken, no institutions or outfits, belonging to the government or terror or insurgent groups, would be able to upset the business of the state or deprive people of their rights.
Surely, nobody would dare to take the law into their own hands and issues like forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, even bombs and bullets going off at any time or any place, would become things of the past.
But the big question is who will take such steps? That no dictator could do it is no surprise. But it is disgraceful that no democratic setup ever bothered with such reforms either.
Even now, as we make a fuss about democracy, rule of law, people’s mandate and all such things, we find no mention of these things on any competing party’s manifesto – or, for that matter, any critical issue that Pakistan faces at the moment. And, once again, people are gearing up to vote for the same faces that indulge in all sorts of intrigues to get tickets from whichever party will accommodate them, gladly parroting the line they have to for a chance at another stint in power.
Every Pakistani knows that the country has finally reached its make-or-break moment. All of us also know that without the certainty of justice, none of our most pressing crises – political, security, economic/financial – can be handled. But do those that run this land of the pure also understand this fact? Or that there is very little time left?
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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