Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb furiously criticized the judiciary and held it responsible for the weakness of the writ of the state. According to the Minister, the Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has turned itself into an armed group and petrol bombs were recovered from the residence of the PTI’s Chief which the miscreants kept throwing on the police during the recent Police-Protestors standoff in Lahore’s Zaman Park. She accused Imran Khan of considering himself above the law and playing with national interests, making conspiracies, and violating the rule of the law and the constitution. Marriyum Aurangzeb questioned whether the justice system was afraid of terrorists and petrol bombs, as a hooligan, a scoundrel comes to court with a violent crowd and he gets a bundle relief package from the court. According to her, one person cannot be allowed to attack the judiciary with a mob and get relief through aggression.
The state of Pakistan is passing through a very sensitive and critical phase of its history as the nation faces a radical social, ethnic, and political division that is deepening every other day because of the selfish politics of its leaders and the weakness of national institutions. Over the years, hypernationalism and rigid politics continuously added to already existing inter-party, intersect, and communal biases in society. Meanwhile, warring political groups have ever tried to influence the government institutions in their favor through political coercion, and misuse of authority that created a sense of fear among the government servants including the Police, judiciary, and civil administration that ultimately undermine the writ of the state and true spirit of the rule of the law. An infelicitous trend has developed in our national politics in recent months that warring political groups are used to reject the court’s verdict which does not suit their interests and try to snub the judiciary for its ruling. Similarly, political parties are used to laud adjudicators’ remarks and the court’s decisions that suit their politics. Thus, this selective behavior and biased politics badly undermined the functioning of national institutions during this era of highly polarized and hybrid social media and corporate journalism.
A series of recent events is highly condemnable, particularly the incidents at Zaman Parks, followed by a Police raid at Imran Khan’s residence while PTI’s Chief appearance at the courts along with a crowd of gangsters cum political workers are neither appraisable for the government nor for the opposition/ PTI. This was neither the legacy of a pro-public democratic government nor a civilized self-claimed nation reformer, rather the world commonly sees such events in gangs-controlled Haiti, and the Republic of Congo.
As for as the assertion of the government leader is concerned, the maintenance of the law and writ of the state is the responsibility of the executive and the government should not involve the judiciary in political matters and never seek an apology from the court in this regard. Meanwhile, the accused opposition leader must not create a law and order situation for the government and not harass the judges by the demonstration of political muscles and the support of an aggressive crowd. At the same time, the judges must maintain the respect, sanctity, and esteem of their valued institution with courage and conduct. The judges, lawyers, and their associates must ensure the provision of fearless and unprejudiced justice to the public in all cases even though an accused is an influential person or a powerful entity. Presently, the nation has high hopes for the judiciary to act as per the constitution without being influenced by either side, the treasury or the opposition. In the present scenario, only the judiciary can sail the country out of the current political crisis through the timely, fearless, and impartial delivery of justice, so this nation comes out of prevailing choas and uncertainty.
