By Agha Iqrar Haroon
The announcement of the decision of the Full Bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the case of the reserved seats of the Sunni Ittehad Council to declare the PTI entitled to the reserved seats is considered Judicial Martial Law by senior journalists while some consider this as abrogation of 1973 Constitution through rewriting it by the Supreme Court although only Parliament can do it.
The decision has confirmed again that PTI always gets what PTI even does not pray for and is still a blue-eyed boy of the higher judiciary. Reasons could be several including that unseen powers behind PTI could have some material that could be harmful to some members of the higher judiciary if such material is public, it can be the charisma of the PTI slur brigade that has exceptional power to lynch anybody in virtual domain, the reason can be too weak political footage of ruling parties who have failed to fight PTI not only at virtual domain rather in physical domain as well because their workers are too thin to protest against alleged highhandedness of higher judiciary. On the other hand, the weak political parties have virtually failed to stand against the constant facilitation of higher judiciary to PTI for the last half a decade while military leadership that is constantly under attack is calm because it also has options of extra-constitutional moves when judiciary is constantly abrogating it. Who is at the stake and who is at the losing end? of course, it is the whole nation that comprises the Parliament, the Judiciary, the military leadership, and the country at large.
Judicial Martial Law had been before in Pakistan several times when actual Martial Law was averted while clipping the wings of Parliament. The worst was during the Memogate controversy and the second of its kind started the day former prime minister Nawaz Sharif took over the charge after 2013 and this Judicial Martial continued till Sharif was sent home. This new phenomenon is not Judicial Martial Law but rather the total abrogation and defiance of the 1973 Constitution. Alas, politicians are shy to respond to this situation through their political power (if they have any). A country that is almost on the verge of economic crisis and putting the common man into revenue generating furnace while avoiding clamping perks and privileges bureaucracy and Superclass, cannot survive for long if there is no Constitution in place and there is no doubt that here in Pakistan there is no Constitution at place. The only solution to get out of the conditions that Pakistan is currently facing is long-term political and economic stability but unfortunately, whenever there is an improvement in political or economic stability in our country, the judiciary comes up with novel ideas like the Reko Diq Mine case or something that can surely halt improvement in economic as well as political stability.
After a long time political and economic stability was visible in the country through the hard work of civil and military leadership and the economic litmus was showing progress, the stock market was setting new records, the approval of a new loan program by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other financial institutions including Receiving financial assistance from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, etc. However, such positive signs would soon reverse when investors would look that anything could happen in Pakistan anytime and there is no operational government and operation Constitution in place and all powers lie only with the Judiciary which is internationally known for the Reko Diq Mine fiasco, therefore one should not be very pragmatic about the economic future of the country. I have reasons to believe that the Supreme Court’s unconstitutional decision regarding reserved seats shocked the entire nation and the very next day, the acquittal of PTI founder and Bushra Bibi in the Iddat Nikah case despite all the evidence are factors that show a special judiciary is set to halt the pace of economic developments in the country.
We understand that PML-N will have to look towards the People’s Party and MQM for important decisions in Parliament, on the other hand, PTI will not allow Parliament to function until the release of Imran Khan, nor will it allow the country to achieve important constitutional amendments that are needed for future course of social development. Constitutional and legal experts have declared this whole matter as judicial Martial Law. Legal experts have repeatedly pointed out in the light of history that the political decisions of certain judiciary are basically another attempt to hinder the development of the country. Law circles also say that the Supreme Judiciary, which has almost imposed judicial martial law at the expense of judicial activism, should also operate within the limits set by the Constitution and the law.
According to public circles, the judiciary should pay attention to the cases of the common people instead of making decisions of their interest in political cases in which they have their interests – today the number of pending cases has increased to a shameful extent. It is also worth noting here that if we look at the details of the cases pending in the Supreme Court till June 30, 2024, then 58479 cases are awaiting decisions in the Supreme Court, 31944 appeals against the decisions of the High Courts on pendency list. The number of criminal appeals against the High Court’s orders is more than 10 thousand. According to the details, 479 cases were filed between 16 and 30 June, and 201 cases were disposed of. According to the WJP report, the Pakistani judiciary was ranked 130 out of 142 in the year 2023.
An article titled “Is the Higher Judiciary not abrogating the Constitution by Rewriting It?” precisely explains the situation that Pakistan is facing today. The author believes that the constant interference in the parliament and rewriting of the constitution is leading to a situation where one can say that the judiciary has become the ‘absolute power’ in Pakistan while the Parliament and even the Armed forces are working under the sole institution that is Judiciary because in many instances judiciary has not only intervened into the operations of armed forces rather barred them to work (reference Trial of civil in Military courts). It may be appropriate to say that the higher judiciary seems to be paralyzing all other constitutional institutions and the parliament with the use of its power.
Should Pakistan officially announce that it is run by the Judiciary instead of the Parliament? In this case, the higher Judiciary should help Parliament to find a new diction for naming this new system within the democracy.
Disclaimer:
The views and opinions expressed in this article/Opinion/Comment are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the DND Thought Center and Dispatch News Desk (DND). Assumptions made within the analysis are not reflective of the position of the DND Thought Center and Dispatch News Desk News Agency.
