Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad (AP)
It’s no surprise to see black- suited men in the streets of Karachi pelting a member of President Pervez Musharraf’s Cabinet with tomatoes, eggs and even a shoe. But it is disheartening when the men in black suits turn out to be lawyers who have spent the last year protesting the lack of rule of law in Pakistan, and when seven people are left dead. …
For most of Pakistani history, the courts have been firmly under the thumb of the authoritarian executive. … Now the democratically elected government has a plan to reinstate [Iftikhar] Chaudhry and the other judges. This will take time and require delicacy. As lawmakers are well aware, they must not only deal with the fired judges and those who have been hired to replace them, they must also deal with more fundamental questions about how a truly independent judiciary can be built amid the country’s political turmoil.
Will parliament demand confirmation hearings for judges, or will it attempt to control them by appointing them only for brief terms? Will it try to pack the Supreme Court with justices who will vote to impeach Musharraf? Or will it instead embark on the structural reforms needed to end the culture of impunity for the powerful? At stake is whether Pakistan can evolve at last into a nation where the rule of law applies to presidents, judges, police officers—and even lawyers. Access the full article>>