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The “Polish Incident”

The outrage perpetrated at the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday Nov 28, 1997 was an incident waiting to happen. For the past several weeks, tension had been mounting in the country as the government and the Supreme Court made moves and counter-moves. When the PM made an unprecedented appearance in person before the Chief Justice (CJ) in the Contempt of Court case and expressed his regrets, the normal course of events would have found a solution in his “honourable pardon”. With the framing of the charge-sheet, the only defence left to the PM for survival was the authority of the Parliament. This was readily given the form of an Amendment which gave the right of at least one appeal, assent to which was very deliberately delayed by the President. Agreed that the Amendment was flawed in some respects, if there was good faith in the Presidency the relevant clauses could have been immediately indicated for Parliament to correct and re-send to the Presidency. In the normal course a 30-day period is OK, but when the constitutional tensions were this high, was it responsible of him to do the abstinence act and sit over the issue? In fact, President Leghari has now come out, holier-than-thou, and made a vehement attack on the government in the form of a very intemperate letter to the PM. What the nation suspected for 30 days, and a lot of people knew much before that, has now been confirmed as a fact, the President has not only been a part of the conspiracy to destabilise the Nawaz Sharif Government, he has been the main perpetrator of the crisis that has brought the country to its knees. Without this behind-the-scenes manipulations, it is most unlikely that matters would have reached the stage it did, culminating in the outrage at the SC premises on Nov 28, 1997. In the “Polish incident” some innocent Germans were deliberately killed by Germans in the last week of August 1939 to make it look like the work of Polish Border Guards. This “incident” was then used by the Germany to invade Poland “to protect Germans”, thus started World War II as France and UK declared war as they had promised to do if Germany invaded Poland. Counting on the bully-boy tactics of the militant faction of the PML to rear its ugly head sooner than later, the President waited till the very condemnable and shameful fascist-type raid on the SC Building before shedding crocodile tears about “the dismal failure of your (sic Nawaz’s) administration than that provided by the shameful events of the last two days, “unquote. While the PML must certainly answer for this fascist-type incident, the President cannot be absolved of his responsibility. This was an outrage carefully choreographed, as much as a mouse is lured by cheese as bait into a trap, to show PML up to be monsters, to provide the “casus belli” for the demise of Mian Nawaz Sharif’s government. While deliberating (or dawdling) over a host of PML’s advice and Parliamentary missives for three weeks, the President came out of his hole in the Presidency like a shot once the CJ sent him his letter requesting for security from the Army and for Justice Siddiqui’s head.

Islamabad Police needs to be raked over the coals for the SC incident, at least the IG should have resigned in shame if nothing else. The President’s directive to the PM to bring in the Army to protect the CJ and his brother judges was a very transparent but pathetic ploy to get the Army involved as a party on his side of the fence. Thank God that the Army did not bite. And look at his convenient call for the Supreme Judicial Council to try Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui, where was the President when 6 senior judges of the Supreme Court made a reference to him about the CJ early in November? Indeed where was he when the whole world knew that the CJ had packed the 5 member Bench hearing the Contempt Court with mainly Nawaz Sharif-detractors? What about all the other requests for a Supreme Judicial Council to try the CJ? Could he have at the very least given quiet counsel to the CJ that for the ends of justice to be served, justice must be perceived to have been done. Very early in November the President who has met the CJ many times since then, knew about the split in the SC, and since he can presumably count, he knew that a majority of the CJ’s brother judges were not happy over the course of things. One cannot speculate what the President said in private to the CJ but it cannot have been discretion and/or judicious restraint, the CJ did not seem to heed the fact that his actions would lead to the day when a parallel SC will have come to form today, making the Supreme Court of Pakistan the laughing stock of the world? By failing to act in time, the President must bear full responsibility for the situation the country is in today, the damage to the SC is his direct contribution to this nation. Forgetting the larger issues such as the economic crisis that looms over our head like a guillotine if not a Sword of Damocles, this man has deliberately nurtured the crisis along for his own benefit, the ultimate repeal of the 13th Amendment that did away his powers under Article 52(2) (B) of the Constitution. This type of conspiracy our bureaucracy thrives in. What a coincidence that Shamsher (1964 batch CSP) and Sherdil (1964 batch CSP) are respectively Principal Advisors to the President (1964 batch CSP) and the PM (no batch of CSP).

Take one guess as to who do you think is the odd man out as far as loyalty is concerned? A superb bureaucrat, should Sherdil be trusted to give sane counsel at ground zero in the PM’s nerve centre? And who is the liaison for the city administration and security in the PM’s Secretariat? Some of the more hawkish moves, including the repeatedly postponed PM speech, have been on his advice. Could the “opposing” bureaucrats have acted in the concert to create a situation to viz (1) “downsize” the PM because of his penchant to go after inherent bureaucratic corruption (2) invite Army action to sort out the politicians and (3) then while secretly vilifying the Army, with their unwitting help manage a Ghulam Ishaq-type rule over this nation, their 1964 batch-mate already being in the chair? Who were the real rulers during Ayub, Yahya and Zia’s time except bureaucrats? Could all this be initiated without Leghari’s knowledge? If the senior military hierarchy would have been less mature, they would have become prey to these machinations. The President has been a full partner in directing the conspiracy to return to a bureaucratic role under cover of quasi-Martial Law. The poor stubborn CJ has been only “an instrument of convenience”. If the Armed Forces had fallen for this ploy, then God help us! As stated before, ambition factor depends very much on individuals and personalities thereof. There is certainly restlessness among those who matter, at least three souls further down the pecking order would have not have been adverse to going on Radio and TV and doing the “Aziz Hum-watno” act like a shot, can we risk Bonapartism because of the ad hoc nature of our fail-safe mechanism?

That things have been brought to this stage in the superior judiciary, the CJ must bear full responsibility. While the decisions of the Division Benches unseating the CJ is debatable without a full bench of the SC to decide the issue, for the politicisation of the SC over the last month the CJ is culpable. He must look at his own conscience and analyse what has transpired to bring the SC into disrepute in the last month. At the same time no sane person can countenance or condone Justice Saiduzzaman Siddiqui’s action in taking over as Acting CJ on his own, this event will probably happen on Monday Dec 1, 1997, i.e today but it will set an unheard-of precedent for the future. Knowing that Sharifuddin Pirzada has been behind the guerilla legal action against the CJ is also not very conducive to democracy. Mr Ardeshir Cowasjee once jokingly introduced Sharifuddin Pirzada over dinner to late Gen Asif Nawaz Janjua when he was Comd 5 Corps Karachi as the one and only legal expert who would be of great assistance to the General if he ever wanted to declare Martial Law. Mr Sharifuddin Pirzada promptly took out his visiting card and handed it over to a non-plussed Asif Nawaz. With such brilliant (and tested) advice available on call how to circumvent constitutional authority, can the government of Mian Nawaz Sharif completely be absolved of the present crisis? Mr Cowasjee’s “Jeddah ka Jadoogar” has been accompanying the PM and clearly directing legal measures, was the PM’s own individual defence greater than the constitutional stability of the country? The country has not yet reached a state of anarchy, Sharifuddin Pirzada’s action on behalf of his PM-client have certainly brought the country to a state of legal anarchy. It has put into question the credibility of the whole Bench of the SC except for Justice Ajmal Mian (at least till now) and a few others not directly party to the events or partisan thereof. Unfortunately if the CJ has to go, then the conduct of all judges in the fracas has to be examined and anybody who showed any inclination other than strictly legal has to be honourably retired. Sharifuddin Pirzada’s role must be seen under a legal magnifying glass as to how much he has contributed to damaging the constitution and democracy.

Whether the Army Chief likes it or not, the buck stops in Pindi and economic apocalypse, if not anarchy, may well decide his hand. He must also give a definite nudge before his command, if not his commanders, get restless. Given that Martial Law is not an option, the Army must still assert itself before the whole rotten core comes tumbling down. It is always possible in Pakistan for the Army Chief to call the shots, at least till he becomes a lame duck, at the same time he must watch out for Bonapartism down the line.

The President must of course resign and if he doesn’t then Parliament must impeach him. For the sake of his seat and ego he has permitted this mess to happen. As much as I personally respect the CJ, unfortunately he must go, a 80 days before his scheduled retirement will not make that much difference. On the other hand, the PM Mian Nawaz Sharif must not completely escape retribution, one must also look at the dictatorial tendencies that have emerged in his rule. Mian Nawaz Sharif is the sum of his party but if the party is only the sum total of his personality then we are not on different wavelengths as respects democracy. Some of the more bizarre amendments affecting the balance of power that led to this crisis must be rolled back (or at least rectified) in Parliament. The fail-safe lines must be restored, one factor would be to bring back the CDNS as a fail-safe mechanism. After April 1993, Mian Nawaz Sharif is usually loath to give “fire and brimstone speeches” on prime-time national TV and Radio but the PM needs to apprise the masses what’s going on in order to stop motivated rumours. He has to use the media effectively and use conciliatory language, whatever the stakes. The PM also cannot be absolved of the action of his close aides, firing Mushtaq Tahirkheli and lowly aides, suspending a couple of DSPs is not enough, it has only added to the public perception that elements within the government were actively involved in the attack on the SC and there is a deliberate cover-up. The trap should have been anticipated. When Khwaja Asaf was lured out of the Tea Bar in the SC to the SC lobby and provoked enough into hitting Akram Shaikh in full view of the CCTV, it was clear that forces were acting to discredit the government and extra care should have been taken to ensure that such a “sting” was not successful on a bigger scale. The time for mere sacrificing senior aides is gone, a check and balance mechanism must become a part of the system to deter fascist tendencies in the future. One cannot get away from the fact that the SC was raided by PML hooligans led by Parliamentarians during the PM’s watch, the PM has to take responsibility and atone for it in person by taking concrete structural steps to assuage the fears of the intelligentsia that democratic rule is likely to be taken over by dictatorial rule by remote control. The intelligentsia is apprehensive that the PM has learnt no lessons, having succeeded in bundling out the President and the CJ, the PM may well decide he is omnipotent and celebrate that he has “won”. If so, then the country would have lost.

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