ISLAMABAD: Expecting a severe judicial reaction to the prime minister’s speech of Sunday night, and a resulting crisis, many lawyers and journalists had not even made it to the Courtroom One by the time a 17-judge bench quietly retreated to their chambers on Monday, without referring even once to the disregard of their directives for a written assurance from the government and after adjourning the proceedings.The proceedings ended even before they had begun, but the short session made one thing amply clear: the judiciary was in no mood for a confrontation; now that the government had taken a firm stand and said no, it too stepped away, ordering an indefinite adjournment till a media committee submitted its report.
Those expecting a deadly confrontation or a serious clash of institutions were left disappointed as Monday morning at the Supreme Court did not even offer the sputtering noise of a damp squib.
Not that this came as a surprise to everyone. Those who had witnessed the earlier non-confrontation between the judiciary and the government in the last week of September when the former quietly acquiesced to the latter’s request for more time in the NRO implementation case were not taken aback. They had predicted that despite the dire prognosis of many, Monday would prove that the events triggered by a news item on Thursday night would not amount to much.
So when Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq, instead of the written assurance from Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, simply presented before the court an interim report of the inquiry committee appointed by the government to probe how the media got hold of the news about a government plan to withdraw the March 16, 2009, executive order, the judges carried on with the proceedings without as much as a raised eyebrow.
The judges did not just express their intent to avoid a crisis through the short proceedings; their complete silence on the absence of the written assurance they had asked for; and their relative gentle handling of the attorney general.
The detailed judgment of Saturday’s short order that they dictated on Monday also reflected this. In this they stated that “… it is up to the concerned authorities/functionaries to submit the statement or not”. The statement referred to the fact that “The learned Attorney General for Pakistan has categorically stated that no one has desired to submit a statement.”
However, this is not to say that the apex court did not secure itself against any arbitrary government action. It did so by making it clear to all and sundry in the detailed judgment restraining the government from withdrawing the judges’ reinstatement notification was a binding order in terms of Article 190 of the Constitution.
The article empowers the Supreme Court to call all the executive (including the armed forces) and judicial authorities throughout Pakistan to act in its aid.
Before retiring, the bench also observed that the court was not subservient to any notification. This included the March 16, 2009, executive order which reinstated the superior court judges sacked by former President Pervez Musharraf while proclaiming the Nov 3, 2007, emergency.
For the rest of the time that the judges spent in the Courtroom One, they remained focused on the interim report of the six-member inquiry committee set up to look into the news item which had provoked this storm in a teacup. And if there can be storm in a teacup over a phrase then there was one in the courtroom on Monday.
The report submitted to the bench had used the following phrase “ongoing standoff between the executive versus the judiciary”.
Taking exception to this, Justice Khalilur Rehman Ramday asked how the committee had reached this conclusion and demanded that it show where the “world war” was. “I am surprised at this finding from such a responsible committee; is it some kind of a match,” he observed.
He added that it was one thing when irresponsible speakers at a public meeting said such things but completely another when responsible individuals of the committee uttered them.
Justice Ramday then proceeded to run through all the judgments this court had rendered since the judiciary’s restoration and asked the AG if he could pinpoint one verdict which could establish that the judiciary was at war with the executive. Shortly after, the judges withdrew.
INTERIM REPORT: In its interim report, the committee conceded that journalistic norms were not being universally observed by media people while reporting on major national issues.
“There exists a tendency of reporting on sensitive subjects based on a single source contrary to international norms that advocate the confirmation of such news from multiple sources. The breaking news about the withdrawal of executive order was telecast without apparently establishing any contact and or verification procedure with the alleged offender i.e. the government,” it said, adding: “In the ‘ongoing standoff between the executive and the judiciary’, media is playing both a positive and negative role.”
The report said it realised that journalists were very sensitive about their sources of information. The committee has not identified the existence of visible source(s) in the government or the judiciary which may have provided the relevant media persons such information.
It said that the initial breaking news that caused panic, sensation and anguish was telecast on Aaj News by its reporter Fakhar Rehman on Oct 14 at 2145 hours that a decision had been taken by the government to withdraw the executive order while mentioning that government sources had provided the information. However, the committee could not find any evidence in support of this proposition.
It went on to say that several other channels also repeated this breaking news of Aaj TV without quoting any source and also discussed the issue in their programmes.
In order to find the facts, the committee called Aaj TV Director Wamiq Zuberi and the reporter, but both were not available. However, they had committed to appearing before the committee on Monday at 1100 hours in Karachi.
The committee has also requested Editor News Mohammad Malick, President of ARY TV Dr Shahid Masood, Hamid Mir of Geo TV or any other media person to appear before it
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