To the ordinary people of Pakistan, the members of the bench and bar stand out as role models. Judges in their black robes and lawyers, in their black coats, stir hope and inspire confidence that with so much lost, we, as a people and a nation, are still a viable concern. By pulling down the judicial structure erected by a dictator, the lawyers' community has established itself as a strong political force that people can always count on as the ultimate custodian of their rights.
In the spring of last year we saw, unfolding before us, a revolution when they marched onto Islamabad, walking hand in hand with the forces of a vibrant civil society and an uncompromising media. But, a year and some months on, we see the same revolution devouring its own children. What happened in the district courts of Lahore on Monday is a sordid narrative which must be retold to capture the meaning of Hegel's theorem that every thesis is pregnant with its own anti-thesis.
On Monday morning, soon after the Lahore District and Sessions Judge Zawar Ahmad Sheikh opened the door of his courtroom, a group of lawyers barged in, pushed him out and locked the courtroom. On hearing what had happened to their beleaguered senior colleague, some 120 judges turned up in a show of solidarity with the Sessions judge. Only the timely arrival of police averted a serious clash between the two groups.
As they, the judges, were being whisked away by the police, the lawyers reportedly pelted the vehicles injuring some judges. Protesting their humiliation at the hands of lawyers, the judges declared themselves on leave for 15 days. But later in the evening, the Lahore High Court judge Justice Ijaz Ahmad intervened and persuaded the two sides to reconsider their positions. As an outcome, the judges have resumed their duties, but the District and Sessions Judge Sheikh will be away from his office - in line with the lawyers' demand - for at least for a couple of days.
As to why the removal of Zawar Sheikh is demanded, there are two opposite versions; while lawyers describe him an 'obnoxious person, who is prone to misbehaviour' the judges say that the lawyers' leadership is angry because they want a share in the recruitment to fill vacancies in the lower judicial offices.
It is not for us to apportion blame as to who should be declared responsible for the 'tamasha', some thousands of litigants must have witnessed in the court premises, in Lahore, on Monday morning. We also don't share the perception that the success of the lawyers' movement against a dictator's judiciary last year is too heady for some segments of lawyers' fraternity.
But, certainly, it was an extremely sad episode and can be accepted only once, and that too grudgingly. Bench and bar are the two wheels of the cart for the rule of law in the country. Without the two working in tandem, it is inconceivable that justice can be delivered. In this incident, the work is cut out for the lawyers' senior leadership, the work to create discipline and encourage introspection among those ready-to-lose-their-balance, fringes of their fellowship.
If they could take the law into their hands and throw the judges out of the courtrooms, what message would they give to the masses in Pakistan, where the rate of literacy is abysmally low and they are looked upon as the leading lights. May be there are some black sheep in their ranks, who may be only part-timers cashing in on their membership for ulterior purposes - as one saw incidents of a couple of lawyers grappling with media men and bashing policemen. The incident has brought intense shame and tends to undermine people's confidence in the institutions, that if allowed to persist, would undermine the very raison d'etre of our existence as a free independent polity.