Last week was extraordinary, even by Pakistani standards. The chief justice of Pakistan was detained in the army chief’s camp office in Rawalpindi for five hours, an acting chief justice was hurriedly sworn in and a supreme judicial council swiftly suspended the CJP. Then he was “house arrested”. The next day, he was manhandled by the police. How extraordinary! Never before has a CJ of the Supreme Court been treated in this way.
The media received unremitting press “advice” to play down the CJP’s case. When Geo Television didn’t comply, its offices were attacked by the police in broad daylight. How extraordinary! Never before has a media outlet been ransacked in this way by the government.
The protesting lawyers soon got the rough end of the stick too. Clashes were provoked when police rammed an armoured carrier through the gates of the Lahore High Court and fired tear gas shells into the premises. How extraordinary! Never before has the police dared to transgress the courts to attack lawyers in this way.
The leader of the ruling party, foreign minister and railways minister all suggested that the cabinet was not in the loop regarding these developments. Government functionaries slunk away in dejection, despair and shame. How extraordinary! Never before have such high profile ministers distanced themselves from their government’s policy.
General Pervez Musharraf has offered a public “apology” to the media. He has also claimed a “conspiracy” against the government within the government. How extraordinary! Never before has any president ever admitted to a conspiracy within a conspiracy in government.
General Musharraf has tried to defend the indefensible but made a hash of things in an interview. How extraordinary! Never before has General Musharraf seemed so shallow and vulnerable as he did on screen that day.
The Pakistan cricket team lost to Ireland and was knocked out of the World Cup. How extraordinary! Never before has the Pakistan cricket team failed to make it into the super eight round.
Angry cricket fans have protested and burnt effigies of the cricket captain, Inzamamul Haq, and the coach, Bob Woolmer. But Inzi has retired from one day cricket and captaincy of the team. How extraordinary! Never before has a cricketing captain admitted personal failure and atoned for it by resigning.
Mr Woolmer was stricken with a heart attack and has passed away, transforming brickbats into bouquets overnight. How extraordinary! Never before has a foreign coach taken defeat to heart so badly and paid for it with his life. The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board and his team of selectors have all resigned. How extraordinary! Never before has any chairman of the PCB or the entire selection committee voluntarily accepted responsibility for any debacle and left office.
A judge of the Lahore high court, a deputy attorney general and several civil judges have quit the service in protest at the treatment meted out to the CJP. How extraordinary! Never before has a pang of conscience exacted so many casualties on the bench.
Lawyers are protesting across the party political divide. But the opposition political parties are divided and have failed to light a prairie fire from the sparks of last week. How extraordinary! Never before has the Musharraf government been so weak and never before has the opposition been so lackluster as now.
There are conclusions to be drawn from this chain of extraordinary events. First, the unprecedented resistance of Iftikhar M Chaudhry to state pressure shall stand the judiciary in good stead in time to come. As long as judges are not corrupt, no executive in the future dare trample over them as in the past. Similarly, the bar and bench have shown unprecedented unity in defense of their institutional rights without party-politicising or personalizing the issue. This should put the fear of God in the hearts of wannabe autocrats. All this is good for building and strengthening the justice-pillar of a democratic state.
Second, the media has not buckled under physical executive pressure. This denotes the coming of age of the press which took its first lessons in the art of resistance against the Nawaz Sharif regime in 1999. This is good for building the accountability-pillar of a democratic state.
Third, the defeat of the Pakistan cricket team proves that religion and outward notions of piety like beards cannot substitute for professionalism, training, competence, tactics and strategy. This lesson will be good for fashioning a new team with a new image that does the country proud.
Fourth, the wholesale resignations associated with the events of last week show that notions of responsibility and culpability are finally taking root in civil society. These are a measure of civilized behaviour that should be emulated. Fifth, governments should realize that they are not here forever, that power can slip away without warning, that arrogance and unaccountability cannot endure.
Finally, President General Pervez Musharraf should read the writing on the wall. He cannot have his way over all the people all the time. He should start the process of sharing power and building a national consensus based on constitutional and democratic norms of behaviour.