Political Shenanigans & Others

After crumbling to the need to sound out about everything I see being back in Pakistan and wanting to share the experience with everyone;

The last few days have been interesting to say the least. Pakistani politics are once again in the throes of turmoil. Political stability is a concept is something that I, as a young Pakistani, have never experienced. The latest casualty is the chief justice of the supreme court who has recently been made "non-functional" by the president. I don't know whether this is entirely kosher but its happened. I have little faith that the system (if one can even call it that) will ever become functional in a 'normal' sense. Will we ever actually follow procedure or does such thought not exist in the psyche of Pakistani politics?

What makes me saddest though is the fact that the chief justice is probably a corrupt man, if reports are to be believed, and he should have been held accountable for his actions a long time ago. But how are we ever to permit real justice to occur if we don't follow it ourselves? There's a saying in urdu: "apne paoon pey kulhari marna" which roughly means that our actions are hurting ourselves which is so appropriate for this situation. It is such things which make me cynical about real democracy occuring in Pakistan, we are our own worst enemies. Feudalism exists to this day over here--it boggles the mind!

This debacle began publicly with an open letter written by a supreme court advocate addressed to the chief justice. The advocate, Naeem Bokhari, expressed (very articulately I might add) his dismay with the actions of the chief justice's courtroom activities, his taking advantage of the government's facilities--in short, his debasement of his position. The subsequent 'downfall' of the justice makes one wonder about Advocate Bokhari's intentions--was he simply a cog in the wheels of a government conspiracy? The expressive brilliance of his letter makes me hope not for it made me proud that such thought exists in this country--it would be a shame to use such genius for less honourable purposes. The current theory running around (one would think this has been going ona while; the chief justice was sacked on Friday) is that his tenure was terminated because the government is yet again trying to postpone elections, something that Justice Chaudhry would have been against. I really hope Naeem Bokhari is simply a lawyer perturbed by the actions of his chief justice and not a pawn of the powers that be...but my faithlessness with the system makes it difficult to believe anyone easily.

The fact that the chief justice is now virtually locked down in his house in actions seemingly similar to what may be termed house arrest makes it doubly difficult to verify anything. What has he done to deserve this, who knows? Justice is a tricky thing.

However, this latest news has taken the country by storm. It is the talk in every drawing room, the newspapers are brimming with various opinions. Despite everything, Pakistanis can commend themselves on freedom of press, the government has been lambasted quite liberally for their high-handed [potentially illegal] behaviour. Restoring my faith? Maybe a little...