Hang the Judges and Lawyers Out to Dry
By CHINA HAND
The United States has been oddly silent on the central, precipitating factor in Pakistan's crisis: Musharraf's use of the State of Emergency to move against the Supreme Court that was poised to disallow his election to another term as president.
The most likely interpretation is that the U.S. will disregard the illegality of Musharraf's bid for another term as president if he takes office as a civilian and lifts the State of Emergency prior to parliamentary elections.
It looks like that's what's going on. And that probably means the judiciary gets hung out to dry.
In John Negroponte's statement before leaving Pakistan there wasn't a word about restoring the Supreme Court, releasing the lawyers and judges from jail, or maintaining an independent judiciary.
1 comment:
A fundamental redline exists in the concept of democracy. If a country does not have an independent judiciary, it is not a democracy. "Democracy" does not mean everyone agrees; it means the minority has rights and individuals have the right to disagree. The concept of disagreeing has little meaning if the boss defines "disagreement." An institution independent of the management team must exist to determine whether or not fair play exists. Various ideas have been tried and, at least in tribal scale traditional societies, some work quite well - consensus, listening to the elders. But in a large, modern society, an independent judiciary is the only solution so far discovered. A country that makes war on its judiciary is not a democracy. To look the other way on this issue is to support dictatorship.
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