One of the bedrocks of a governance system is the existence of an independent and fair judiciary. Without equality before the law, there is no justice. Law is complex and its procedures rigorous. Where one side, whether employer or government department, knows its way around and the other does not, only a skilled, independent and painstaking judge can tease out half-articulated facts. Judicial independence serves to protect the constitutional rights of citizens and ensures the rule of law. Judicial independence is in fact an important principle that means a judge has the freedom to make a fair and impartial decision based solely on the facts presented and the applicable laws, without yielding to political pressure or intimidation. If judges are independent, honest, fair, God-fearing and blessed with a judicious approach toward the cases pending before them, the judiciary is bound to be independent. If the judges are dependent, dishonest, unfair, boss-fearing and infected with a whimsical approach towards every case that they come across, the judiciary is not independent. Rather it is then not a judiciary at all. Independent courts protect the rights of the powerless instead of protecting only the rich.
The reality is that Pakistan has the most dishonest, dangerous and crooked legal system. The Honorable Chief Justice has repeatedly said no compromise would be made over merit but reality on ground does not prove this statement. Deteriorating law enforcement has led many Pakistanis to take justice into their own hands as the nation’s economic depression has widened the social gap and left the lowest-income sectors more exposed to rising crime and violence. Pakistan is experiencing a process of growth of social inequality in terms of access to education, health care, and justice. Legal corruption is covering Pakistan like a blanket. We are ending up with the law of the jungle, where everyone tries to protect themselves even at the cost of causing more victims. But our legal system is in comma. Justice in our country depends on chance. Most problems particularly of Government and its departments should not even unnecessarily come to court. They should be able to sort it out before that. But due to encouragement of the judiciary each and every matter is taken by them to courts of appeal just as delaying tactics with the intention that huge fees are paid to the counsels from national exchequer not from their own pocket. This tendency leads to over burdening the judiciary but our judiciary does it just to please the Government.
The Judiciary fully supported the rotten and corrupt system in the name of protecting “democracy” when majority of people had begun to believe that the so called democracy, in which they had faith, was part of the problem and, therefore, could not be part of the solution. As per media reports, assets worth Rupees 18000 billion (180 billion dollars) were plundered in addition to grabbing precious chunks of land in almost every city during the last five years. The superior courts are fully empowered to take suo moto cognizance of any matter the court feels is in public interest. The Honorable Supreme Court could not act decisively for auditing all the plundered organizations and repatriation of the looted assets. There has not been sufficient action on recovering the hundreds of billions of dollars that have been stolen by corrupt so called national leaders even after their departure from power corridors. Judges are accountable to the Constitution and the law—not political pressure. And in this way the courts are always accountable to the people. Article 25 of the Constitution guarantees all citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law. But are all citizens treated equally? Or are some elite citizens given special preference, while others are treated in entirely opposite direction? Unfortunately, several recent events point to a troubling possibility – that all citizens are not equal before the law and the judiciary remained dependent of the “elected” government.
Pakistan is turning into a violent country and adapting to the widespread denial of justice. There is a threat to the independence of the judiciary if there is not sufficient public confidence in the system. Pakistan now desperately needs an independent judiciary after so many decades in which the political leaders manipulated the courts, denying justice to so many. Most of the Pakistanis believe that the Chief Justice of Pakistan is personally honest but as a nation we have lost confidence in the system. When there is such a strong support for the leadership then why judiciary is so subservient to the ruling elite and has not been able to restore the lost confidence of the nation? The system doesn’t just look broken, it is really broken and in dire need of reconstruction; the greatest plans for restoration will only work if we gain confidence in its purpose and outcome. Just reform judicial system and stop accepting political interference.