My lord may I make a few humble submissions about matters that have continued to generate dark fears of unpleasant consequences which might befall our tentative republic if not addressed? These submissions are neither in their order of priority nor do they belong to an incorrigible and irretrievable past , therefore have the potential to be picked up, addressed and directions issued to right the wrong where it might have occurred or left unattended. With your permission I submit:-
Senator Yusuf Raza Gilani PPP was contesting for senate seat with his eyes on the coveted Leader of the House slot. Fair enough but it became awfully messy when his son was caught on camera not only buying votes but also devising codes to ensure how to spoil a vote not to be counted.This was splashed by most TV channels and put social media literally on fire. Everyone knew that votes have been bought but neither Election Commission batted an eyelid nor Your Lordships thought it fit to even look into this scandal. Yusuf Raza was elected against opposition from PTI and strangely a PTI woman senate candidate bagged more votes the same evening from the same House. Did that ring a bell? Were,nt people of Pakistan cheated in broad daylight and their mandate stolen by cash-showering mafia managers. Was’nt this subversion of the constitution and best democratic practices ? No?
Sindh House is a notorious virtual casino( It is indecent to write what this building is actually called as by the people) is located next to where your official residences are and by that coincidence you might have had a reasonably good overview of their orgies and binges. The Judicial Enclosure sentries must have had a grandstand view of the PTI defectors who were coerced, forced and bribed into the Sindh House mouse trap and then detained there like a herd of sheep under deviously imported Sindh Police cordon to reduce strength of PTI in the NA at the crucial time of no confidence vote. There were very loud protests being made by the PTI, press was full of details of bribes and coercion and sane minds were pointing out this political robbery in the name of freedom of speech and democracy.But it failed to draw your judicial attention. All that was needed was to send in the Court Bailiff to Sindh House, recover those caged MNAs and set them free,but that was not to be as that could seriously damage the carefully connived structure of game plan for deseating IK and the huge payments made by the power elites allegedly to the defecrors. Even if you considered the protests a farse,you could still call their bluff if it appeared one to you, but you didn’t.
Right?Just what kind of democratic practice was it that Zardari cages PTI defectors in Sindh House and Hamza Shehbaz holds his own MPAs hostage in a hotel in Lahore? We may have been helpessly seeing this repulsive circus but how could you pretend not to notice?? Will somebody ever hold these slave runners accountable for making a laughing stock of our struggling democratic system???
The entire episode was a bagful of collective crookry but what might have gone unnoticed is another precedence thus set (and quietly approved) for say a legion of TLP brutes or JUI mustard-clad monk savages to lay siege to any state structure in the future in Islamabad which might serve their purpose. Then the SC may have no moral locus stand to take notice or seek help.Let me remind Your Lordships that JUI(F) has lost public respect completely after their extremely dubious role in conjuction with Zardari and Sharifs during VONC and therefore will depend entirely on brute power in future. This sadly also holds good for the Higher Judiciary’s horrific loss of prestige among the poeple during the same period and you know why.
Deviousness and fraud are dominant genetic traits of Sharif clan. The more they practice this family art the more they seem to endear themselves to our higher judiciary particularly the Lahore High Court who have created unenviable history in dubious verdicts favoring Sharifs since years and providing them reliefs never heard of in judicial chronicles. This illicit judicial courtship with Sharifs is like the attraction caused by a femme fatale who only appears to seduce from her slow rolling glittering carriage while passing by the judicial slum , scandalously lobbing a gold coin or so this way or that and then laughing in her sleeves.
It is clearly and publically known that Hamza Shahbaz was foisted over Punjab by fraud,his father’s machinations and use of force in a completely rowdy manner.It was illegality unmitigated and the other party petitioned LHC. There a despicable drama of court diversions and judicial partisanship unfolded when judge after judge backed out till it was too late and the Chicken lad was able to vastly manipulate and position provincial administration to achieve favorable results in the forthcoming by-elections. Election Commission continued to keep the illegal Hamza administration on a ventilator by refusing to notify five PTI MPAs till again it was too late. This meant LHC and the Provincial Election Commission were in cahoots to help Hamza Sharif stay in power by hook or crook. Constitution, democracy, legality or morality can wait, His Highness the Prince Regent must rule.
By the way it was the same Election Commission that misled the Supreme Court about their inability to hold elections before the end of the year during the hearing of a crucial case in the recent cascading crisis and once the dust settled cunningly showed readiness to hold elections as and when the govt wanted. One is sure it must not have amused you.
But what has been an amazing display of Wigs’ affection towards Hamza was when a petition against the LHC’s a nearly comical direction to hold fresh election of CM Punjab with in two days was awarded while the fellow is still the imposed CM. Going by the learned SC Bench’s remarks during the course of the proceedings it appeared an erudite verdict will be delivered. But that was not to be as the court soon transformed into a sort of family arbitration court and got busy in engineering a patch up between the estranged partners.
Patch up it was as the respondent got away with the dowry, gold and the privilege to manage the house till the clan holds a victory feast.By what stroke of legal logic and under what commands of constitutional provisions did the Bench extract consent from the petitioner to let Hamza rule until then? This clearly meant the SC approved of his strong arm tactics and considered him as nearly lawful CM if not fully.It was not only perfidious but also apparent collusion with the respondent. How could the SC mediate, approve and applaud this spurious arrangement? This naturally had implications.Hamza went berserk exercising his recovered political power in the province, till the time popular vote and Pervaiz Elahi’s election as CM Punjab ousted him.
