Solomon’s Justice
A few days ago, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, came up with their version of Solomon’s justice, setting aside the conviction of former PM Ms Benazir and her husband, Asif Zardari, by the Ehtesab Bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) in what is generally known as the SGS case, ordering a re-trial for them. Without the benefit of a detailed judgement we can only surmise that they accept that the LHC Bench was biased but the evidence may be too compelling enough to make a new trial necessary. By the time Solomon, son of David, died, he had become the greatest King of Israel. According to Encyclopedia Britannica King Solomon was known for establishing Israelite colonies in the mid-10 century BC to handle military, administrative and commercial matters, the subsequent demand for fortresses and garrison cities making him embark on a vast building programme. In fact the First Temple’s construction was completed by him in 957 BC. Only a part of the second Temple, known as the Wailing Wall now survives on Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Ground Zero in the strife between Israelis and Palestinians. Known mainly for his sagacity, Solomon was also a poet but history knows him best for what is called “Solomonic justice”.
Maxim had it right in his cartoon in THE NATION last Sunday, he had Ms Benazir saying, “When a court convicts me it is a kangaroo court and if it acquits me it upholds the dignity of the judiciary”. Once the damning audio-tapes of conversations between Justice Qayyum of the Lahore High Court (LHC), then LHC Chief Justice Rashid Aziz, then Federal Law Minister, Mr Khalid Anwar and Saifur Rehman, former Chairman, Ehtesab Bureau were brought on record, it would have been a travesty of justice to convict the wife-husband former ruling duo, howsoever strong the evidence. While Benazir and her supporters may congratulate themselves that she was exonerated, the Court actually let her go on a technicality as it should have. Any time a court is perceived to be guilty of partiality of any kind, the justice meted out will be deemed to be tainted and will never be acceptable.
The evidence against Ms Benazir in the case in question seems to be quite strong and she may well find that her Supreme Court triumph is a pyrrhic victory. The Supreme Court having established their credibility by doing the right thing, what happens if she is found guilty in the subsequent re-trial and that conviction is upheld this time by the Supreme Court? Had the process and the Supreme Court of Pakistan upheld her conviction, she would have won a final victory in the court of public opinion because it would have been called politically motivated. Nobody is saying she is guilty but this time around someone has discovered that haste makes waste, a deliberate judicial process will be far more credible this time around. In winning this battle Ms Benazir is in danger of losing the war. However, Ms Benazir is nothing if not a fighter and while one may or may not believe whether Asif Zardari is guilty or not, the man deserves respect for the good humour and courage he has borne his incarceration, lasting the whole of the Farooq Leghari’s caretaker government, Mian Nawaz Sharif regime and the military regime, almost 4 years now. Given that for some reason this government has not detained or brought charges against many known crooks in the bureaucracy, politics and the defence forces, it is rank injustice to keep Asif Zardari jailed when big-time crooks who are known to have wholesale defrauded banks, been running drugs and gun smuggling operations, evaded taxes, subverted the honest and integrity of government servants at will (sometimes blackmailing them), been involved in money-laundering, etc not only roam around scot-free but those who have been hauled up, have not only been left off in plea-bargaining after paying a pittance, but in the general public perception have a cozy relationship with some elements within the military regime.
Besides being a politician, Ms Benazir is also a mother and with her husband in jail, it will take some doing to leave her small children without any parent. Unfortunately as a politician she has no choice, Ms Benazir must return to face the courts if she really feels she is innocent of the accusations of corruption made against her. Her return would confirm her innocence but even though she is publicly stating she will return on several months, it is at best viz (1) a bluff to keep pressure in the military regime and (2) to keep up the morale of her supporters.
In Pakistan, nothing ever happens to the people who bring false evidence, or for that matter fabricate evidence. Those who bear false witness should be given the same punishment that the accused would be liable for. How many of our senior officials been brought before the courts for perjury? In fact has anyone among the prosecuting agencies been convicted for perjury ever? Has anyone taken any of the intelligence agencies to task for regularly creating false stories? With such tainted evidence bought before the court, what does one expect from them? Are they clairvoyant to ascertain the truth from the heavens? And why then bring aspersion on the judiciary? Make no mistake, we can run accountability for a hundred years, it will be a miscarriage of justice to apply it on a “hit and run” basis and that also against perceived “enemies” only, we must make our prosecuting agencies accountable about the evidence they bring before the courts. Every person has a right to a fair trial, he has a right to have correct evidence be brought against him, to be prosecuted only for what he has done, not what anyone else feels he has done. As long as we have outright liars in administration at any level, we can forget justice being fair, it will always be tainted even against those who are actually guilty of crimes. Moreover, if those in the regime think that no one knows about the misdemeanours they are mistaken, the public is very knowledgeable and perceptive. Unfortunately the intelligence agencies never tell the rulers the truth, otherwise the pimps who would sell their own souls what to talk of parlaying other’s bodies, would never survive. But such pimps are survivors and they last out every regime by doing what they are best at, i.e. besides their original profession, bringing false accusation against their previous bosses. So every time a government falls, these pimps are revived because of their nuisance value to the new regime. One particular pimp knows who I am talking about.
And why did the Supreme Court order a re-trial? Clearly it was because they felt that there were enough evidence to suggest that justice was being denied deliberately to Ms Benazir, Asif Zardari, etc. As such honour (and justice) demands that both former Chief Justice LHC Rashid Aziz and LHC Justice Qayyum face an inquisition, as should Khalid Anwar and Saifur Rahman. The audio-tapes may not be strictly legal, no one has any doubt from the transcripts that such conversations did take place. However, before bringing any of the persons before an enquiry, the authenticity of the audio-tapes have to be verified and/or whether they have been doctored. Public perception must not judge them guilty before the evidence (the audio-tapes) is confirmed as genuine. Given that the thrust of the pressure on the LHC was to hurry up the trial, the gist of the conversation from the audio-tapes certainly was crude cowboy justice, “we will give them a fair trial before we hang them”, i.e. a presumption of guilt on the part of the court due to pressure being brought upon them by the government. And who knows where this will stop if Khalid Anwar and Saifur Rahman start talking. If they contend they were doing it on their own initiative there is no problem but what if either of them name others? The logical person who gave them orders (or even suggestion thereof) to put the judges under pressure would be former PM Mian Nawaz Sharif, or who were Khalid Anwar and Saifur Rahman telling Justice Qayyum about when they were referring to “the man”? Better still, let these gentlemen deny what they said on tape, and if the tapes are authenticated and their denial is found incorrect, then they can be tried for perjury also. With all due respects, if the tapes are authentic they should be liable to receive the same punishment meted out to Ms Benazir and Asif Zardari. By the same token, if the evidence against Ms Benazir and Asif Zardari is found to be correct in a re-trial, and the prosecutors must bend over backwards to ensure that, then they also should face trial for perjury. If on the other hand, the prosecutors are found to have fabricated evidence, they must be similarly persecuted.
If the courts find anyone guilty of perjury, throw the keys away! Now, that would really be Solomonic justice.
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