Supreme Court’s Verdict and the Arrest of a Prime Minister

Rashid Ali Haideri

It was the afternoon of 15^th Jan, when every single Pakistani was baffled and amazed following the current prevailing situation in our beloved country. I was one of them. We were trying to understand what has actually been happening in the last few days and why? In the same dilemma the screens of all television channels turned red and every one chanted a decision by the Supreme Court of Pakistan according to which the Prime minister was to be arrested along with many other people in a rental case. This was a decision which made me ponder upon few facts and in the following words I have tried to express them. This decision of Supreme Court has two aspects. One Legal and the other is Political.

Talking of the legal aspect, it is important to have a look at its background. This was a case in Supreme Court against an increase in prices of Rental Power Plants back in 2006 and 2008 by the federal water and power development. In both terms Liaqat Jatoi and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf – the current Prime minister – were federal ministers respectively so he was convicted of that. This case was filled last year and it was in pending in the Supreme Court from that time and decision was about to come. Although no one can question the legal aspect of this decision that whether it is legal or illegal because this was expected but it is very important to note that the crimes against Prime minister are not proven, they are just alleged. So, he is to be proven guilty in these crimes.

The very same point of the prime minister not being proven guilty against his crimes brings us to the political aspect of this decision by Supreme Court of Pakistan. The political aspect of this case is almost about the timing of decision. Yes, nobody can question the legal aspect but the political aspect is very much questionable. The fact that today our country is in the midst of very dangerous events which can lead up to national insecurity are on their peak. Today when at a single point in time when the proven enemy our beloved country India is threating us for an army action, at a time when just a day ago millions of Shias throughout our country were on streets demanding justice for target killings and following their demands Governor Rule was imposed in one of the most insecure province i.e. Baluchistan, at a time when a suspicious cleric with dual nationality is in front of the Parliament House with thousands of people threatening to take down the government, let aside the daily target killing and terrorist attacks throughout country makes this decision questionable. In such a situation it is the need of hour to bring peace and calm down this burning situation but ordering to arrest the highest leader of country can never be appreciated & that too for an alleged case. This decision has not done any good rather have destabilized the country.

Here a question arises that by saying this do I mean that this decision shouldn’t have been announced? No, not at all! If I say that this decision shouldn’t have been given then that would be an injustice to the people. What am I trying to make is that the timing of the decision is not appropriate. This decision could have been given a week before or a week later because all of this was possible. It was in helm of Supreme Court to do that.

Another factor which makes the time of decision a suspicious one is the fact that a night ago Tahir Ul Qadri had announced that the current President and Prime Minister are no more in their positions, they are ‘Ex-President and Ex-Prime Minister’. There may not be any link between the two things – there shouldn’t be because in that case that would be termed treason against the country on back stages- but still this raises eyebrows of many people. This is substantiated by the bitter fact of the cold war between current govern and Supreme Court which has been going from many years.

The bottom line is that unfortunately today our beloved homeland is going through very hard times so it is the need of time to act collectively, understand & fulfill our social responsibilities in order to bring peace and order. This is only possible when all organs of state work in coordination and cooperation with each other. If they work against each other than we can only pray that May Allah protect us.

The contributor is a student at LUMS. He hails from Nagar Valley, Gilgit-Baltistan.