Difference between Justice and Revenge

Cicero the father of jurisprudence in 54BC had said that law is based on nature not opinion. For the principles of law and the accentuation of it he even gave his life, was offered high pedestals but he refused all.

He did two things; one converted the Roman Empire into a legitimate entity through the application of law of nature and secondly transformed the brute legal fraternity to a cultured body.

Augustus, who had acquiesced in Cicero’s murder, once, found his grandson reading Cicero’s book, the child got frightened on committing the high crime of his times, but Augustus in deep voice and glossy eyes told the young lad “That was a master of words, my boy. A master of words and a lover of his country”.

Who is becoming who here, a dictator who is behaving law abiding or a judicial system based on dictatorial tinges. A common man who is being miss treated by the absence of timely legal dispensation are now being subjected to physical violence by lawyers.

The recent events at Lahore and Rawalpindi are enough to vindicate this. Lawyer, lawyer is liar; liar can be heard as the simmering resentments of a common man. Honorable Chief justice of Pakistan who is commonly known in legal fraternity as chief sahib has said that over 1.6million cases are pending in the courts.

It is indicative that the focus is on hearing fame gathering political cases rather than absolving a common man from the agony of going to courts for years to settle minor issues and in the process bear some form of violence from lawyers.

This country is lacking legal reforms at grass root levels , no government has ever tried to implement any in what so ever form, for reforms one require will and good intentions rest of the things are mere excuses to evade the same.

The courts seem very eager to take contempt cases, where as biggest contempt is the bartering of the self respect of a common person. Laws, legal systems, rules and principles are all made and practiced to alleviate a man; the objective is to make a citizen believe that he or she is honorable.

Musharraf‘s trial is a good omen, becoming a repeat act of Augustus and Cicero. Three times the justices took oath under PCO; twice it happened during Musharraf’s period. There were few who refused and were shown the door by the dictator, but they are today respected by all and sundry.

The problem with law is not the law itself but the interpretations, now every one is accruing meanings of own choice from that of the different articles of constitution of Pakistan.

It has become the test case in the judicial history of Pakistan and the eagerness to wind more the winding road against the former dictator has actually damaged the spirit of historical struggle and the lawyer’s movement in Pakistan.

A cow holier than thou, is now becoming questionable, not in the eyes of other holy cows but yes the common man, who is asking that judicial activism of the nature of photo shoots has given nothing except the promises of good days ahead.

How many more Arsalans, Maliks, Siddiques and God knows what they have to bear till they are really emancipated from the shackles of one tyranny from the other.

Being from a weaker gender I am not supposed to talk in baritones of country side, but this is the true pulse and being the ardent admirer of chief justice, judiciary and its positive role in Pakistan, I cannot see going everything down the drain.

In Pakistan everything is passing through its formative phase, so it be the judiciary, reforms to address the woes of common man are to be applied, and applied soon.

Let Musharaff be trialed under treason, but apply the principle of natural justice and have a universal trial of all, let hundreds of terrorists be also trialed under the same law by devising the circumvention and special amendments in laws of evidence, the question of admissibility and non admissibility be dealt as the original jurisdiction of supreme court rather than the appellant one.

Hand cuff Musharraff, but also gather courage to tie down the terrorists, they scoot free to fight another day.

The  suo motto phenomena in legal dispensation actually makes the normal legal system redundant, so strengthen the common law and its apparatus, in the western world and even in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh it is very rarely applied rather than sparingly.

The honorable chief justice can’t be everywhere all the time, so what the lower judiciary is doing in tehsils, districts and even cities? They have to help the senior judiciary in curbing the tendencies of photo shoots.

One of the reasons of emergence of Taliban in Swat was the exploitation of the desire of timely and speedy justice for the common man, the same case studies are now being taught at the Harvard law school.

What we are waiting for, the inclusion of few more case studies for Harvard students or  the writing of own legal history with the swagger and pride of a enliven nation .

Justice Cornelius once said   “ It must be recognized that crime is a biological fact of society, whether ancient or modern.” So let it be like that, politicizing pillars of state will result in more confusion and yet another interpretation, which will add to general be wilderness.
Sherbano Khan