According to Nawaz Sharif, head of PML (N), an offer was made by a government’s representative that should he refrain from highlighting the case of the illegal awarding of marks to the daughter of the de facto Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, the cases pending against him and Shahbaz Sharif in the Supreme Court regarding their eligibility to hold public office would be decided in their favour. The name of the messenger was not disclosed.
The Minister of Information, Sherry Rehman has denied that any such offer was made. However, recognizing the veracity of the word of the leader of PML (N) who has in the recent past through his words and actions displayed greater maturity and truthfulness in the political field, Senior PPP leader and Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis, Sayed Khurshid Ahmed Shah during a television talk show stated that although he does not doubt the word of Nawaz Sharif, the offer must have been made by a ‘nobody’ of the Pakistan Peoples Party, whose word matters little. If that is the case, it is imperative that the PPP takes to task its rogue member lest the man is deemed to be too close to President Zardari or top party rank which revolves around him. In that probable scenario, the ‘messenger’ must have had the mandate to deliver such a message with a blanket indemnification from the head of the PPP.
It seems probable that this is the case otherwise Nawaz Sharif would not have made such a damning allegation against a member of PPP who was a ‘nobody’ and could have instead ignored the offer as inconsequential. This is so since as party head, he must have applied his mind to the fact that revelation of the act of this ‘nobody’ and possibly namely him subsequently, if need arose, would have led to an embarrassing situation for him since then it would have been absurd to affiliate the ‘nobody’ to the PPP. The disclosure would have been unjustified then to risk straining his party’s relations with the PPP any more than they are presently. Since the day the PML(N)’s government in Punjab has been formed, it is being continuously threatened and blackmailed, over its support for popular and constitutional issues, through the Governor Punjab, Salmaan Taseer who has been blocking key appointments by the Punjab Government as well as hampering its zest for reviving the good governance days under the administrative leadership of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
The news of Abdul Hameed Dogar’s daughter and the award of extra marks to her came as a shocker for everyone. If indeed such manipulation could have been conducted by a man who is supposed to be a beacon of justice and hold an office which carries sanctity- delivering justice which is also a religious belief by most religions-may God bless the future and the present generations of this nation. Indeed, a system without justice is like a body without soul and the survival of the body of the nation is in peril if those who head the judicial system show utter disregard of rules and laws and principles of equity and justice.
If one were to objectively examine the case of Farah Dogar and the allegation of the awarding of extra marks to her at the instance of Justice Dogar, the de facto Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar had the onus of proof on him to substantiate his somewhat clumsy defense that he had nothing to do with the awarding of extra marks to his daughter by the Federal Board. If he is to be believed and he had nothing to hide, why did he not take suo moto notice of the infamous case and tried to go to the heart of the matter as to how an illegality was conducted in the case of the daughter of a functioning Chief Justice? Would it not then have raised his stature as well as that of the judiciary as well as proved his claimed ‘aloofness’ from the whole matter (a claim which seems unbelievable at the outset nonetheless)? Was it not the only hounourable way ahead by the ‘Honourable Chief Justice’ to exonerate himself of the charges if he was innocent? Would it not have revived our faith in our educational system as well as the merit system which is the cornerstone of every society in pursuit of progress and prosperity? Why would the Supreme Court stay the proceedings of the Education Committee examining the case of the award of extra marks to her when it is well established convention and law that Parliamentary proceedings cannot be stayed? Have the Judges of the Superior Court become incompetent and ignorant of the British Common Law as well as its indoctrination into the system of the tracheotomy of power via Article 69 of the Constitution of Pakistan which explicitly prevents the inquiry of parliamentary proceedings when it comes to investigating into the affairs of their abuse of power? How could one justify the staying of proceedings by the Supreme Court of the Parliamentary proceedings unless the judges who issued the stay order were trying to protect their Chief and tainted themselves in the process? Is this how our Supreme Court wants the people to look at it? As Protectors of the wrongdoer if he happens to be from amongst them, how can Judges be watchdogs of the rights of the citizens in a just manner?
After going through the circumstances of the case as well as the attempt to ‘cool’ down the matter by trying to influence Ansaar Abbasi subsequently, who broke the news for the first time, it becomes quite clear that Abdul Hameed Dogar had influenced the Board into awarding the marks to his daughter. When one gets caught red handed with ones hands in the cookie jar the worst possible excuse could be that it was someone else who had put ones hands in the jar in the first place.
The PPP government’s support for his case exposed its bias in his favour when the right thing for it to do would have been to distance itself from the issue and let the Parliamentary Committee on Education reach a finding after investigating the matter thoroughly. It could have also appropriately filed a reference against Abdul Hameed Dogar J in the Supreme Judicial Council and let the law take its due course. It is pertinent to mention that a pending reference against the same judge has borne no proceedings. Instead, various ministers of the PPP defended Dogar’s case as his personal lawyers and in the process also demanded that the case of the abuse of power by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to get top position in the police department for his son should also be investigated. Such is the state of neglect amongst them or perhaps the eagerness to defend Dogar J that they forgot that the Supreme Court has already ruled by 10 to 3 exonerating the Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry on 20th July, 2007 of all charges by nullifying the reference filed against him by the Musharraf administration. The reference had included the allegation of abuse of power amongst others but the Honourable Supreme Court, as it were then, had after thorough deliberation and hearing all the sides declared that he was deemed to be the Chief Justice at all times and he was exonerated of all the charges.
It is thus the discussion of the case of Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry which is prohibited under the law and not the discussion of a new matter which has arisen over the conduct of Abdul Hameed Dogar as Judge. It is also not a decision of the court which is the subject matter of the discussion which is normally prohibited, lest some misconduct or gross illegality transpires. Instead of rectifying the wrong and moving a reference against Abdul Hameed Dogar J., the PPP has become party to his cause just as Abdul Hameed Dogar became a party to the personal cause of PPP’s leadership by giving legitimacy to the unconstitutional and ultra vire National Reconciliation Ordinance which legitimized corruption for the first time ever perhaps in recorded history. Now going a step further, political parties are being coerced into submission through the judiciary and the sanctity of judiciary has been lost. To give an example of the perception of ordinary people, ‘contempt of court’, which once used to sound like a crime of the highest degree is devoid of any meaning anymore. When the Chief of the Judiciary has been tainted with criminal allegations, ‘contempt of Court’ is a mere phrase, full of dichotomies and internal contradictions. Which Court? People ask ominously. When a noun itself has become disrespectful and questionable, no suitable adjective can restore its meaning.
The present PPP leadership has not accepted the judgment reinstating Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry despite the pledges of its leader Benazir Bhutto, whose first death anniversary is just round the corner. To the contrary it has provided legitimacy and continues to provide legitimacy to the martial law imposed by General Musharraf. The subsequent renewing of the pledge by President Zardari have been interpreted as sinister political moves rather than being promises which should have been honoured for the sake of reversing the assaults on the judiciary by Musharraf. By continuously supporting Abdul Hameed Dogar as Chief Justice and denying Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as the de facto and de jure Chief Justice despite the understandings reached with the PML (N), the PPP has supported the martial law of Musharraf and it seems that the remnants of that martial law would never be eliminated until the PPP is in power at the center.
The contempt for the Constitution as well as abetting its violation by PPP does not end here. A power struggle is being waged in the province of Punjab and the constitution is being flouted once more. The latest tussle with the PML (N) government in Punjab is an example when despite the fact that the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly was under the Constitution bound to take oath as Governor, Chief Justice of Lahore High Court took oath when Salmaan Taseer left the country. It is pertinent to state here that the superior members of the judiciary had, when Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry been reinstated, vowed not to indulge in administrative and executive activities and ex officio positions to reinforce and assert the path towards independence of the judiciary but a shameful departure was made from that path. The oath was administered by the patron of Salmaan Taseer, President Asif Zardari and therefore the President’s participation in the whole conspiracy is conspicuous. It is a pity that the PPP recommended to the PML (N), knowing fully well that PPP in effect controls the judiciary, that it should go before a court of law or contact President Zardari if it had any reservations over the issue. The appointment itself should have been made in accordance with the Constitution rather than issuing such a remark which is nothing but a bluff.
Fortunately, the speaker of the National Assembly is from PPP and therefore we would not witness a situation if one is to draw an analogy from this bizarre act, that Abdul Hameed Dogar J., would one day take oath as President of this country in case Mr. Asif Zardari left the country, although with retrospect it can be said with confidence he would not mind doing so.
The PPP has, during its short tenure shown utter disrespect for the constitution of the country and is quickly losing support, especially amongst the intelligentsia and the civil society who do not believe that things would improve from here. The sad part is that the dissolution of the PPP controlled National Assembly in the past by former President Leghari on the pretext that governance in accordance with the Constitution was not possible during the PPP’s previous tenure, has not led the party to improve on its shortcomings. It is perhaps the incompetence of the PPP present leadership, in the absence of the guiding ability of Benazir Bhutto, who despite being a controversial figure in other respects, had the ability to perhaps prevent the party from repeating its past mistakes. To the contrary, the present PPP seems bent upon flouting the constitution and seems to have forgotten that it had united the opposition during Musharraf’s regime on the grounds of being unconstitutional yet is following in its footsteps and has failed to reverse any significant act during that unconstitutional rule. The PPP must repent its past performance in this regard and start following the very Charter of Democracy that Benazir Bhutto had proudly announced as being the result of her party’s struggle and initiative. For the moment, Nawaz Sharif continues to rise in the popularity charts by sticking to the basics- regard for the Constitution and abiding by past promises.
The PPP has, during its short tenure shown utter disrespect for the constitution of the country and is quickly losing support, especially amongst the intelligentsia and the civil society who do not believe that things would improve from here. The sad part is that the dissolution of the PPP controlled National Assembly in the past by former President Leghari on the pretext that governance in accordance with the Constitution was not possible during the PPP’s previous tenure, has not led the party to improve on its shortcomings. It is perhaps the incompetence of the PPP present leadership, in the absence of the guiding ability of Benazir Bhutto, who despite being a controversial figure in other respects, had the ability to perhaps prevent the party from repeating its past mistakes. To the contrary, the present PPP seems bent upon flouting the constitution and seems to have forgotten that it had united the opposition during Musharraf’s regime on the grounds of being unconstitutional yet is following in its footsteps and has failed to reverse any significant act during that unconstitutional rule. The PPP must repent its past performance in this regard and start following the very Charter of Democracy that Benazir Bhutto had proudly announced as being the result of her party’s struggle and initiative. For the moment, Nawaz Sharif continues to rise in the popularity charts by sticking to the basics- regard for the Constitution and abiding by past promises.
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