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Showing posts from April, 2007

Deal, Dheel, Pig and the Sugarcane Field

Late Mian Saleem Jahangir happened to be amongst the eminent lawyers of Lahore 's judicial circles. A notable voice of PPP, on Zia Ul Haq's assumption of power, he made a speech in which he said that the pig has entered the sugarcane field and now we have to think how to take it out? - Soar kamad de khetan wich aa gaya aae hun sochna aae ve ke ainoon kadna kinj aae? (Subsequently he had to spend 3-4 years under ground and probably some time in detention for the speech) The question that Mian Sahab raised in late 70s has become most relevant in mid 00s. For Pakistan , for all the internal and external factors has reached a deciding point in its national history. The question becomes all the more relevant in context of the rumours/news of a deal between PPP and General Musharaf. What constitutes a deal? Will it be a damaging blow to the rule of law in this country or will it serve as an opening into the restoration of civilian rule in the country? and more importantly is there

Chief Justice Crisis - The Issues overlooked

I wanted to pen down my thoughts on the judicial crisis and the other crisis that have hit the country for quite some time now but some how it got delayed and then the things issues kept adding to it. So today, I will be discussing a few issues on the periphery of CJP crisis. There are two issues that the commentators and people in general have ignored or their merits been under-assessed in the due course. No one in particular is considering what one individual in the position of influence can do in case he decides to resist the dictatorial tendencies or unconstitutional behavior and then based on this what will be the impact when a few people in the position of power decide to uphold the cause of constitution and rule of law. This, keeping in view the sorry state of rule of law in our national history, is a direct commentary on our national conscience. Second point that is missed or I should say miss-assessed is its impact on Musharaf. Musharaf's rule hinges on two pillars. One i