Intresting piece on Balochistanis and their contribution in Paks Supreme court.. Truly a brave an indepenadant people, we should have more like them to stand up too dictators and tyrants like Musharaf.
Balochistan’s prisoners of conscience
By Qazi Faez Isa
THE presidents of Balochistan High Court Bar Association and Balochistan Bar Association, Shakil Ahmed and Baz Mohammad Kakar, were arrested upon imposition of the emergency and Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) and bundled off respectively to Mach and Loralai jails. These elected presidents representing all the lawyers of Balochistan are now under house arrest.
Ali Ahmed Kurd, former president of Balochistan Bar Association and Tariq Mehmood, former President of Balochistan High Court and Supreme Court Bar Associations, were abducted and sent respectively to Jhelum and Sahiwal jails. In the heartland of the Punjab, the writ of Pervez and son Moonis Elahi ruled supreme and Kurd and Mehmood were maltreated and developed various medical problems.
The fate of all judges of the Supreme Court elevated from Balochistan is a little better. Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohmmad Chaudhry, Justice Jawed Iqbal and Justice Raja Fayyaz served as Chief Justices of Balochistan before elevation to the Supreme Court. As twilight engulfed Islamabad on Nov 3 they were locked-in.
Musharraf’s unkindness with Balochistan’s men and women of law has a long history. Justice Tariq Mehmood, as Balochistan High Court judge had the temerity to question the referendum of April 2002. A referendum later acknowledged as a mistake by Musharraf, but his mistake resulted in Justice Mehmood’s forced resignation. The impoverished people of Pakistan bore the astronomical expense of the referendum, under which Musharraf secured his second stint in power. His first was acquired by nudging aside the elected government and parliament.
It was also during Musharraf’s stay at the helm that Balochistan’s Justice Nawaz Marri was murdered; the first and only murder of a confirmed High Court Judge in Pakistan. When the slain judge’s brother, retired Chief Justice Khuda Baksh Marri, demanded the arrest of his brother’s murderers Musharraf dispatched him a terse letter warning him not to take the law into his hands!
Musharraf’s third job securing — “the third phase to democracy” – started on Nov 3. The world witnessed the transmutation of General Musharraf into a civilian president; a scientific marvel, a constitutional blemish. The hybrid cost the nation its Judiciary, the Constitution and 5,000 protesting lawyers were thrown into the slammer.
Balochistan flared-up when a lady doctor was raped in Sui. The incident suggested the involvement of security personnel as it took place in a secured compound. A judicial inquiry was in progress when General Musharraf publicly exonerated the army captain who was in control of security. Interference with the judicial process inflamed passions, providing a rallying point for all disgruntled elements.
When Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry became the Chief Justice of Pakistan he became the first Balochistani to attain this distinction. Independence of mind and spirit that characterises most Balochistanis, are intolerable qualities in Islamabad and the GHQ. General Musharraf took the exceptional step of submitting a reference after the Chief Justice’s removal. The Supreme Court, the entire Court, threw out the reference. Musharraf bided his time and retaliated by throwing out the Supreme Court and then in Napoleonic fashion placed the crown on his head.
The perception of the people of Balochistan of being wronged grows. They want to be freed from the shackles of the sardari-system that was outlawed in 1976 but the interim Balochistan Cabinet has been stuffed full with sardars. There were no sardars or nawabs in the forefront of the Pakistan movement but their progeny are pampered whilst patriots lie rotting in jails. The educated leadership of the Muslim League spearheaded the people of Balochistan who heartily avowed the cause of Pakistan.
The civil society of Balochistan is a natural counter to separatists, extremists and sardars, but its leaders have been incarcerated. Balochistan gives shape to Pakistan. Constituting 43 per cent of the land mass of Pakistan it literally defines Pakistan. Where are we today? All judges from Balochistan in the apex court have been forcibly removed. The presidents of its bar associations imprisoned. Their only crime is believing in Pakistan and the Constitution which ensures that the territory of Balochistan is an integral part of Pakistan (Article 1).
Without the Constitution of Pakistan, what is the territory of Pakistan? By putting the Constitution in abeyance the physical integrity of the country is gravely undermined. It is for such reasons too that the Constitution requires everyone’s obedience (Article 5). Without it “we walk in darkness, in the thick darkness of the plague” (Albert Camus The Plague). A pestilence has descended. Persecution is rife. The rain of justice has stopped. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad, said, “The justice we were supposed to dispense, we have delivered, and are prepared to pay any price for it. Now we would see whether people would stand with us.”
In June 1948 the Quaid addressed the officers of the Staff College: “During my talks with one or two very high-ranking officers I discovered that they did not know the implications of the oath taken by the troops of Pakistan: ‘I solemnly affirm, in the presence of Almighty God, that I owe allegiance to the Constitution’. I should like you to study the Constitution which is in force in Pakistan at present and understand its true constitutional and legal implications when you say that you will be faithful to the Constitution.”
Musharraf took the oath prescribed in the 1973 Constitution for the members of the armed forces. “In the name of Allah, the most Beneficient, the most Merciful, I, Pervez Musharraf, do solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to Pakistan and uphold the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan which embodies the will of the people, that I will not engage myself in any political activities whatsoever.” Was he true to his oath? Did he uphold the Constitution?
Time magazine’s (Dec 10, 2007) evaluation is, “Pakistan’s leader leaves the army, but his war on the Constitution continues. But regardless of what outfit he wears, Musharraf has left Pakistan with a tattered constitution patched with amendments and filled now with so many loopholes justifying his rule that it resembles a crocheted doily, ready to be thrown over whatever ugliness the next ruler creates in pursuit of power.”
The article concludes with the swipe: “When Musharraf took power in his 1999 coup, he quoted Abraham Lincoln, saying sometimes you need to amputate a limb to save a life. On the day he imposed emergency rule, he repeated the reference to justify his actions. The only problem is, amputated limbs don’t grow back.”
We have “rid the world of the fascist menace and made it safe for democracy. Now you have to stand guard over the development and maintenance of Islamic democracy, Islamic social justice and equality of manhood in your own native soil.” (Quaid’s address to the men of the Ack Ack regiments, Malir, Feb 21, 1948).
