Articles of the year 2013
Published on September 09th 2013
We are witnessing an incredible phenomenon. A venerable old man, at the very end of a distinguished career, when he should have been bowed out gracefully, circumstances changed and suddenly greatness was thrust upon him. In the space of 24 hours the whole of Pakistan focused on the treatment meted out to him, and in that short space of time a hero was born. Justice Iftikhar Chaudry went from a faceless Judge of the Supreme Court to an icon for 160 million Pakistanis.
People came from far and wide, in buses, on trucks, motorcycles, walking, in the infernal heat of a Punjab summer. Just to see him. He gave no speeches—bound to silence by the code of sub-judice, he could not sing, he could give no spiritual blessing, no plots and no dispensation, but the people came in their millions, to see the man who said no. He just wanted his job back.
They stood ten deep, sweat pouring down their bodies carrying rose petals to shower on the Judge. To touch him-to touch the car he was in, to touch the tyres, anything to assuage their guilt at his treatment, and to atone for their share in the collective guilt. One cannot comprehend the depth of the feeling, for this was not a religious wave, nor was it political, nor was it orchestrated, such an outpouring of empathy for a man so wronged. It was almost as if they came in their thousands, no, tens of thousands to share in his grief. It was not a funeral, but the grief, the sorrow they shared with the Judge, at his loss. No State funeral shall see such a turnout.
The Politicians have all been marginalized, for they are aghast at the turnout of the crowds, greater than they ever could manage with their resources, or their organizations, the JI and their million man march could never in their wildest dream have foreseen such numbers. The Judge also ensured that no political party attempt a hijack of his caravan, for it was that--- simply a caravan of injustice, in which there was no room for politicos with their worn and shabby agendas. This was yet another man who had been ill treated by a cruel and unjust system,
We are lucky that the Media was there to relay most of the journey, till the Powers that be, decided that live coverage was not to be allowed, thinking that this would kill the joy, but like all the rational moves based on wrong impulses, it only managed to increase the interest and the fervour. With our Government, there is a strange disconnect with what ought to be, and reality. This was a prime example. With moves being plotted by the Slapper and the Liar, the other side had to win. This is a losing team, and the President has still not realized it. The Coccoon of complacency that surrounds the President with mantras of ‘ all is well, all is well’ if repeated 1 lakh times, will not make things well. To believe in the mantra if repeated by an idiot is a sure recipe for disaster. It would be better for all if ‘A loser is a loser’, is repeated by the President to himself whenever the Slapper or the Sleazy Liar come slithering into his presence. And if you surround yourself with their ilk you are bound to lose. Cast them off, --- and do it publicly, so we the people know, that you are awake to the dangers facing you and the country.
The Judge has shown his resilience, in the grueling hours that he has managed to endure, almost equally punishing as those undergone by people who traveled to see him. But then adrenaline has a rush of its own, and adrenaline that comes from audiences such as the Judge received, has its own special high, and can support a man way beyond any drug, for performance enhancing is part of the rush that one gets from an audience. Otherwise the Judge would have been laid low much earlier. At the onset he just wanted his job back, and stood his ground not realizing how events would unfold. Even now as he is looking at his old job, he must be studying carefully all the cases he did not ‘Suo Moto’. My Lord there is a lot of time ahead. So Villains beware, we may just get the strictest justice imaginable.