Making a Mockery of Law
By Saeed Qureshi
Dallas
The custodians of law and interpreters of the sacred document titled constitution turned into an unruly crowd the other day in Lahore to press the court for bypassing the legal process and release their cohort lawyer accused of torturing to death a domestic servant, a 12-year-old girl. About 300 lawyers held a raucous demonstration in front of the court, raised questionable slogans inconsistent with the dignity of their profession, and unabashedly demanded circumvention of the judicial hearing. Such bandit lawyers have no right to be in the legal profession because by their roguish behavior they have forfeited their right to be on the right side of the justice. They should be debarred from taking part in the legal practice and their licenses cancelled.
If today the law-protectors turn into law-breakers and take the law in their own hands what legal or moral barrier can stop the ordinary litigants not to storm the jails, ransack the courts and kidnap the judges and jurists till they get their dictated verdict. The lawyers have set an ugly example to the effect that when a member of the bar is nabbed, the legal community is at liberty to hold unruly demonstrations and cut short the due process of law. What lesson these legal minds and jurists are conveying to the people: that the lawyers themselves are above law, they are immune from the normal proceedings and can subvert the courts and threaten the judges because they have an influential peer put behind the bar for an insidious and gruesome crime of murdering an innocent and helpless girl of a minority community, already hard-pressed by the sheer apathy and discrimination of the religious sections of the majority.
Their bizarre assemblage in front of the Lahore court that is hearing the case of accused Chaudhry Naeem advocate also emits a reprehensible signal to the jurists and legal practitioners around the world that here is a faction of their fraternity which can turn into the scum of the earth and debase their honorable profession meant to aid the afflicted and the wronged. It is a self-inflicting detrimental wound by this band of rabble rousers to their own prestigious profession and more so to their personal conduct. The melee of these lawyers would leave an indelible blot on the radiant and fair face of Pakistan’s legal system and the defenders of law. If the judicial system in Pakistan succumbs to the highhandedness and mob mentality of the lawyers then Pakistan would turn into a lawless jungle.
Even otherwise Pakistan’s justice system has remained tainted and egregiously faulty. As the proverb and common cliché goes: “Better buy the judge than hire an advocate.” Such is the gross travesty of justice in Pakistan. In the past the Supreme Court’s role and conduct in treading the unalloyed and sublime path of justice has not been above reproach. It is indeed gratifying that during the past two years it has manifested itself with a laudably upright demeanor and strict propriety. From the time of removal of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to his restoration and till now, the apex court has exhibited what has been termed as independent judicial activism. Chief Justice Chaudhry has been viewed as a symbol of democracy and rule of law.
The ongoing tussle between the superior judiciary and the government bears an incontrovertible testimony to the sordid phenomenon that the establishment was ignoring or dishonoring the court’s decisions. The Supreme Court of Pakistan overturned the amnesty granted to over 8000 corrupt and criminal individuals granted by the NRO. But the government by all indications seems determined to thwart this historic ruling. Various phony and fake excuses are pouring out of the government portals that signal that implementation of the follow-up action is not going to be a smooth sailing.
Now if the executive wants to promote and justify corruption and shelter rank corrupt persons then the sanctity of the Constitution and supremacy of rule of law stand robbed. In such an inclement environment, it looks a tall order for the accountability and law to prevail. Small wonder then, if the lower rank lawyers and advocates make a mockery of law and undermine its inviolability by their disruptive and villainous behavior.
