Farrukh Khan Pitafi's Official Website

Three days after Musharraf’s departure two things have already happened: Bomb blasts in Dera Ismail Khan and Wah Cantt and a deadlock between the ruling coalition partners. The space and time chosen for the former attack carry a clear message. Dera Ismail Khan is the stronghold of Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the cleric whose loyalty has always been doubtful and the establishment is really pissed on him for turning against Musharraf.  The attack in Wah Cantt seems an attempt to bring the new army leadership under severe pressure.
As if that was not enough the politicians seem to be losing their solidarity already. The PML-N certainly seems to be gearing up to reclaim the turncoats of the PML-Q minus the Chaudhries of Gujrat and chart its independent course. Meanwhile the PPP and the rest of the allies are under pressure to meet the PML-N’s demands. Political engineering has already started in Punjab and a deadline has been given for the restoration of the judges. It is clear that the judges issue is not the mere reason why the N League is issuing deadlines. In the post Musharraf world there is great space available for the political class to conquer or claim. Perhaps Musharraf had understood that the democratic forces had not done their home work for the post-Musharraf situation properly. That is why his disappearing act was perhaps the perfect revenge.
Yet let me remind you that the transition is not complete. It is unwise to bring the system under too much pressure. The vestiges of the old order should be pruned. The new army chief is still being pressure by the fan club of the old order to confront the government or face defamation. I particularly worried about Lt Gen Nadeem Taj for he still seems to be the part of the very fan club. As an Army Chief General Kayani needs to develop a vision statement, and maximize his outreach by visiting all units and liaising with the officers there. If there was one commendable aspect of General Musharraf it was his readiness to reach out the officers across board and sell his vision. This army is the army of our heroes. It should be given a clear interpretation of its destiny. No one can do that better that its top leader who has a commendable understanding of the army’s scope and responsibilities.
Likewise the media and the lawyers need to come out of the aggressive phase they were in. If we tolerated an unelected government for nine years what harm can it have if we tolerate the antics and semantics of the folks we ourselves elected and who have only been in power for months.
I know the political squabbles have started already. I know we could further be walking towards uncertainty. But that is what we need to compehend about democracy. Democracy is not supposed to generate talling figures who hijack the entire system. Democracy is supposed to bring to the fore the people who in all likelihood will be commoners and yet will have the capacity to run the affairs of the government. It was alright to aggressively work for the change of ruler who if not evicted would have made democracy non functional. And why do I say that democracy would have been dysfunctional if Musharraf was in power, because democracy is supposed to have the capacity to not only elect but change a government too. In the last nine years the country was run in a highly personalized way. Now the political class has to pass the test of our trust. But what is the haste. There is a limit to which the system can be harmed.  There is a clear limit to a sitting government’s tenure. We are lucky that today we have entered into the age of coalition politics. The coalition politics itself is an effectual device for checks and balances. If you do not like the government you can change it whenever there is a call to the elections. 
I respect Justice Chaudhry and his sacked colleagues as much as there is a need. Yet we should always remember not to make a God out of any person. I am hopeful that all these judges will be restored but I also realize that after the lawyers’ movement these judges are not merely judges but national figures. Musharraf was a national figure too but our problem was that his presence was creating a system of unipolarity where one actor was far too powerful than all others. Today he is gone and that anomaly is abolished. I believe that the judicial system must also pass some important tests for the sake of justice for all. For instance like it or not the PML-N’s mantra that instead of impeaching the president they should have restored the judges who would have taken him to task. Sirs, if you were that sure of the outcome of a trial that had not yet started you were to clearly hinting that it was not justice but vendetta. No matter how much upright no judge can be allowed to pursue a personal agenda for they are not the elected representatives. No matter how much bad was Musharraf he was entitled to a fair trial and the fact that these judges had allowed him to take part in the election and had validated his first coup would have been dragged into the debate owing to which we could never predict an outcome. Yet I admire also the fact that during the lawyers’ movement Justice Chaudhry and his colleagues never ever became partisan. This implies that their legacy is whole and unblemished . It means in turn that they have a right to be restored. But is it not wise to define the contours of the judicial activism too for if not checked it will develop another Musharraf like unipolarity. Let me point out four things that need to be changed. First there is no clear definition of the term of a Chief Justice. Technically if a judge is promoted to the post of the Chief Justice at the age of thirty (of course it is conjecture and I believe no one would do any such silly thing), there would be no way to replace him for three decades. This is not sensible. The president, the prime minister, the provincial chief executives, the services chiefs and the parliaments all have clear terms of service. What harm would it do to have that at the time of restoration for afterwards using the Judicial Review the courts could strike the term restriction down. Likewise there is no well defined system for the induction of a judge. That also needs to be resolved. This takes us to the next point of the judicial activism and the judicial review. I believe that judicial activism is good but there should be clear limits to it. We know there are three pillars of state the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. Of the three the most important is the legislature for not only is it the representative of the people but also it codifies the law which if unchanged govern our generations. As someone who considers the Objectives Resolution an anomaly at best I believe that the judiciary should not have any right to review the output of the assemblies with the exception of human rights. So there goes the judicial review. At best the courts should interpret the law not change it. Then comes the relationship between the judiciary and the executive. The judiciary in my view should not be allowed to challenge policies ( with the exception of human rights of course) for that are framed by the representatives of the people. Yet it can monitor the day to day issue of governance. It is not the job of judiciary to legitimize coup maker, to strike down the important policy decisions or bring the functions of a state to a grinding halt. Finally the firvilous laws of the contempt of court should be scrapped. Courts should be respected for their decisions and objectivity and not through obligatory laws. Now all this clearly needs a constitutional package and our patience. Now that a dictator is gone let us not bring down the entire system by acting impulsively. Let us think of what is good for all our children and grandchildren. Also let us give the politicians some time to sort out problems. They will only gain experience through stumbles and tumbles. It is good to have as many different perspectives as we can find for that would give birth to a truly pluralistic society.
Also I should appeal to every stakeholder not to create an environment of instability for the country’s economy is really frail right now. Aggressive postures will only damage us in the end.