Long Long March!

Here we go again. Another long march is upon us. This time, we are marching for the independence of judiciary. There are a number of people in this country who are extremely gladdened by this turn of events. We are overjoyed to see that we have finally risen against the tyranny of the ruling classes and have, at last, shown the courage to take a principled stance in front of, first a military dictator, and now a civilian one. The entry of the Sharif brothers, along with their party into the movement has reassured us. The lions are with us and now we will not stop until we get what we want. And with this kind of resolve, we are sure that we’ll succeed. Nara-e-Takbeer Allah o Akbar (Or is Chief Tere Jaan Nisaar, Beshumaar Beshumaar more popular now?). 

Let’s get one thing clear here. I have nothing against independence of judiciary or the right of the people to protest or march to wherever they want. It’s just that I fear this movement, like everything else in this country, is under a severe threat. This threat does not come from its detractors in the government or its enemies within. It comes from the capacity of human beings to be so swayed by emotions that they lose the actual plot. This movement too is in danger of completely losing its plot.

I fully support all the people who take part in this march as well as those who support it. I just want to make a few things clear. Call it a reminder to the Pakistanis. We have this very bad habit of putting people on high pedestals overnight and also of pushing them off in a moment. We perceive everyone as either an angel or the Devil. Hence, we have lost the capacity to evaluate humans and interact with them. In truth the human being is an extremely complex creature and always falls between the Angel and the Devil. We must realize this so that we can judge the good and bad qualities of everyone and then decide what benefit or harm he can do to us. Most of you (if not all) know the facts I am going to state here, but I guess, we suffer from severe bouts of amnesia. So let’s refresh our memory.

• Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry (then at the Balochistan High Court) was one of the first judges to take oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) in January 2000.
• In May 2000, Justice Chaudhry was one of the 12 judges who ruled that the removal of the Prime Minister, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was legal on the basis of the doctrine of necessity and hence validated the rule of Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
• In 2005, Justice Chaudhry was one of the five judges who dismissed all petitions against the 17^th Amendment, Musharraf’s retention of uniform and the Legal Framework Order (LFO).
• In 1981, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, was handpicked by Gen. Zia ul Haq and made the Finance Minister of Punjab. This was the start of his political career.
• In 1985, Nawaz Sharif became the Chief Minister of Punjab with Gen. Zia’s consent.
• Nawaz Sharif while Prime Minister was charged with contempt of court and a mob of his supporters attacked the Supreme Court while hearing of the case was in progress. Instead of rendering an apology on behalf of his supporters, Mr. Sharif removed the then Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah from his post.

I don’t intend to say that these people are evil. I just want to remind our people that they are humans, not angels or devils. We must keep a clear head and stick to facts. I have never seen a man change overnight but somehow we are adamant at believing and convincing others that these two supreme leaders as well as a number of their partners have transformed themselves into the messiahs that we had always been waiting for. We have to wake up.

We will never be saved by any Judge or political leader. We are our own saviors. We should follow any leader as long as he is on the right path, regardless of who he is. Similarly we must stay away from anyone who does not seem to be going where he should, regardless of who he is. There is nothing wrong with struggling for liberty, freedom, independence of judiciary, democracy and so on. But please, let’s not put undue burden on individuals.

We want an independent judiciary, good. We think that Mr. Iftikhar Chaudhry symbolizes an independent and impartial judiciary and is the only one who can get us there, unfair. We want democracy, good. We think that Nawaz Sharif and his party is the surest path towards it, unfair. Why should these individuals be burdened with such huge and unreasonable expectations?

Just a little bit about our lion’s speech in Faisalabad the other day. He screamed to a huge slogan chanting crowd a list of all the sacrifices he made for democracy. I’ll mention just three of them here. Firstly, that he fled his country and spent seven years abroad. He asked the overzealous crowd whether they could spend even a single day outside their beloved country and there was a loud NO heard in response (I wonder what would have happened if someone had thrown a foreign visa amid the crowd at that time). Secondly, that he forced his party members to take their ministerial oaths from President Musharraf (Wow! Becoming Ministers! That is some sacrifice!). And third that now (when they have been barred from assemblies) he and his brother are protesting in the streets against the tyranny of the PPP government. Interestingly, in all his speeches, the Mian rarely mentions Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and concentrates mainly on the decision against himself and his brother and how that has harmed the future of his country (read family).

Rather than expecting a person to take us to our destination, let’s move towards it together. We are with any leader as long as he’s leading us towards better days. The road is important, not the leader. We should be more bothered about where we are going rather than who we are following. 

Most of the people in democratic countries take centuries to learn this. We must learn this now. In a democracy, every one of us is the ruler. Our opinion is important. It matters. We matter. Make sure you put your mark on the history of your nation.

People who believe in something just because their leader says so walk a tight line. Enlightened people follow a leader because he says what they believe in. Go ahead and follow these men but don’t forget that they are our leaders because we made them so, and they should serve as our leaders only if they stick to their word and their promises. We are their strength, rather than vice versa. We come first but only if we believe in ourselves. Until we keep following blindly, we’ll keep marching, and it will be a long long march.