Nowadays a debate is raging in the country as to whether judiciary may be made further independent or the judges of the superior courts made non-functional by the Emergency-Plus, may be restored. PML -N stands for restoration of judges whereas PPPP and ANP support the idea of making the institution of judiciary more independent and strong.
The idea of strong and independent judiciary is very noble and commendable and must be supported by everyone, but restoration of non-functional judiciary also must not be ignored , given lesser importance or lost sight of.
You may make the judiciary most independent and strong but even then the judiciary will not have any force of its own to fight or resist any military general in case of any Martial Law or Emergency-Plus. It is basically the support of a strong and active civil society that makes the judiciary strong and independent in any country, particularly in a third-world country like ours.
The case in point is the defiance of the great Chief Justice of Pakistan, the heroic struggle of the brave , unrelenting and united lawyers associations in the entire country and the struggling media, that the 'suspended' Chief Justice of Pakistan was restored and independence of judiciary was ensured.
But this was not enough and the military general struck again and this time, not only the Chief Justice of Pakistan but also more than 60 honourable judges of the superior courts were 'restrained' and kept under house arrest. In such a scenario how can an 'independent' judiciary survive and resist.
This time the general issued PCO, removed members of the judiciary, considered independent-minded , in violation of the Constitution, appointed judges of his own choice and got away with it.
In such a situation if the civil society, the lawyers community and the struggling media, who are keeping alive the issue of restoration of honourable judges of the superior courts are not supported by the common man in general and their representatives, ie MNAs and MPAs in particular and they do not make all-out efforts and succeed in restoring the 'restrained' judges of the superior courts to their rightful constitutional position, then noble idea of independence of judiciary and rule of law in Pakistan cannot be achieved.
In any such eventuality, in future , the judges of the superior courts will keep in mind the fact that civil society , the people of Pakistan and their representatives will not come to their rescue and ,therefore, will not be able to resist such un-constitutional acts and the Law of Necessity will remain alive.
In view of this situation, it is the prime duty of every citizen, every segment of civil society, every member of the struggling media, every MNA, and every MPA, who believes in rule of law and independence of judiciary, to actively support the lawyers' movement for restoration of judges of our superior courts.