DAWN - Cowasjee Corner; 12 July, 1998
Riding out the storm
By Ardeshir Cowasjee
"HOODLUM: The name originated in San Francisco about 1870-72 and began to excite attention elsewhere in the US about 1877." Hoodlums are street-rowdies, dangerous roughs. Now, 127 years down the line, this nineteenth prime minister of Pakistan, Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, has added another dimension to the meaning of the word.
In late November 1997, all bundled together in the person of our prime minister were desperation, fear of being convicted, of being shunted into oblivion, of being declared bankrupt, greed for more power and more pelf, lack of respect for law and for the sanctity of the courts, over-confidence, stupidity, and ineptitude. With aid and support from his equally endowed ministers, parliamentarians and hangers-on, Nawaz Sharif was spurred on to defend himself by perverting the course of justice.
On December 15, 1997, the newly sworn-in Chief Justice of Pakistan, Ajmal Mian, trod cautiously and appointed Abdur Rahman Khan, J-10 of his court, to hold an inquiry into the matter of rowdyism and violence in the Supreme Court premises on November 28, 1997, and "to suggest what steps/action the Supreme Court should take/initiate in the above matter to avoid such incidents in the future." Justice Khan was given a difficult job.
Those who could help his inquiry, the authorities and their minions, were in fact themselves the aiders and abettors.
In his report delivered to the Chief Justice on February 18, Justice Khan wrote: "As the action of those individuals who forced their way into the court premises and raised slogans against the judiciary, prima facie, amounts to gross contempt of this court," and he recommended that the Chief Justice constitute a Bench to initiate contempt proceedings for "the outrageous incident."
The court should identify the stormers, and "once the concerned persons are identified, the court can then issue notices to them and then take further action under Article 204 of the Constitution and the applicable law." The necessity for initiating immediate action was stressed, the matter being of "paramount importance," as "the sanctity, dignity and respect of the apex court of the country is involved. Street power should not be allowed to coerce and intimidate the judiciary."
And so, within a week, on February 25, the CJ constituted the Bench to be presided over by Nasir Aslam Zahid, J-5, the former Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court, sitting with Munawar Ahmed Mirza, J-6, the former Chief Justice of the Balochistan High Court, and Abdur Rehman Khan, J-10, the former Chief Justice of the Peshawar High Court ( who had held the first inquiry ) to delve deeper into the matter.
The three sat in the original jurisdiction in the Supreme Court in the matter of Criminal Miscellaneous No.27/98. They met 27 times. They saw, heard, read, and they examined 53 witnesses under oath. They rode out the storm and delivered.
By its order of July 3, the Bench held the following, all members of the Pakistan Muslim League, prima facie guilty of gross contempt of the Supreme Court, of the violation of the applicable law, and of being involved in, or aiding and abetting, or facilitating the storming of the Supreme Court.
PML MNAs: Tariq Aziz ; Mian Mohammad Munir.
PML MPAs: Chaudhry Tanvir Ahmad Khan ; Akhtar Rasool ; Sardar Mohammad Naseem Khan.
Prime Minister's political secretary: Mushtaq Tahirkheli (sacked one day, reinstated the next day, rewarded).
PML office-bearers, activists, rabble-rousers, street-fighters: Shahbaz Ghousi (commander of the Nawaz Sharif Force); Akhtar Mahmood, (roadrider of Rawalpindi); Babar Awan (divisional president of the Muslim Students Federation); Ali Abbas (general secretary of the PML Labour Force, Rawalpindi); Anjum Iqbal ( roadrider of Rawalpindi); Mohammad Faruq (divisional secretary of the PML Youth Force of Rawalpindi); Mohammad Naseem (Joint Secretary, PML MSF Labour Force of Rawalpindi); Tanvir Akhtar (general secretary, PML Youth Force of Rawalpindi); Raja Zafar Iqbal (joint secretary, PML Labour Force of Rawalpindi); Malik Mohammad Munawar (general secretary of the PML, Rawalpindi).
From Babar Awan downwards, all had been accused in Criminal Case No. 229/97 filed at the Secretariat Police Station, Islamabad, after the storming of the Supreme Court. They were jailed, released, garlanded, and rewarded.
Held to be prima facie guilty of aiding, abetting or facilitating the storming:
Members of the administration: Abid Ali, Acting DC, Islamabad; Mohammad Ali, AC, Islamabad; Iftikhar Ali Shalwani, AC, Islamabad.
Members of the police force: Tariq Saleem Lone, IGP Islamabad; Altaf Hussain, SSP, Islamabad; Bashir Ahmad Naseer, ASP, Islamabad; Liaquat Ali, DSP; Mohammad Ashiq Farooqui, DSP; Inspector Jamil Hashmi; SHO, Secretariat PS; Inspector Mussarat Hussain Khan, SHO, Bharakau PS.
The Court has directed that show-cause notices be issued to the above 26 persons, calling upon them to explain why action should not be taken against them for contempt of the Supreme Court. It has established that the storming was premeditated, that a large number of people had been brought in for the purpose from areas outside Islamabad, that the flak-jacketed police force present and on duty at the Supreme Court was sufficiently adequate to deal with the situation and to prevent the storming, and that had the doors of Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah's Court No. 1 not been closed, it would have been invaded by the hoodlums and the Chief Justice and his brother judges then in session would have been physically molested.
It has been found that there was no impediment whatsoever in the way of the police that restrained them from controlling the invading hoodlums and from taking whatever action they should have taken. The conclusion is that they im-pliedly facilitated the entry of the stormers into the premises and building of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The video cassette showing the recording of the televised broadcast by the BBC of the events of that November day, and of the CCTV cameras installed in the Supreme Court building, provided unassailable evidence, as did the photographs taken by the press photographers.
Credit must go to the unknown man (or woman) who one day deposited at my house the cassette in question which I forwarded to the succeeding Chief Justice Ajmal Mian with the request that he view it.
Much credit must also go to senior journalists, Mehmud Ali of the Business Recorder and Zahid Husain of AP, The Times and Newsline, to journalists Altaf Hussain Bhatti, Aslam Butt, Abdul Wadood Qureshi, Naveed Meraj and Fakhr-ur-Rahman (the man who ran into Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah's Court No.1 to warn the judges of the impending invasion and who, for his timely action in thwarting their plans, was beaten up in the court room after the judges had risen, by the PML hoodlums).
Credit also to Hussain Haqqani, journalist, media-man and former member of both the Muslim League and the PPP governments, former Spin Doctor of both Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, who did much behind the scenes to give courage to those wary of speaking and who himself came forward to tell the court what he knew.
Of the 53 whose evidence was recorded under oath, the only politician whose testimony supports the findings of the inquiry Bench is that likeable Senator, Iqbal 'Groovy' Haider. He at least had the grace to tell the truth. The other politicians who testified, without exception, could easily be convicted of perjury.
The presiding judge, Nasir Aslam Zahid, had an excruciatingly difficult task. He needed a unanimous order. The pressure on him and his brethren was heavy, the constraints under which they worked were known to us all but cannot, under the prevailing circumstances, be repeated prudently in print. We are now unprotected. The declaration of the unnecessary 'Emergency' has deprived us of our fundamental rights.
So far, the storm has been well ridden. The first and second steps have been taken, without a stumble. The judiciary has helped itself, it has helped the people, who, to some extent, have regained confidence in the institution upon which they must rely.