The restoration of the Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudary and the other deposed Judges marks a humiliating moment for Asif Ali Zardari and the PPP led regime. Having fought tooth and nail to avoid this outcome, Zardari has eventually had to yield. Many Pakistani political commentators are hailing this as a victory of ‘people power’ against another heavy handed regime. However the sad fact is that this is actually another Western engineered political ploy that will fail to address Pakistan’s underlying and growing problems.
This latest saga in Pakistani politics was a throwback to the political fighting that dominated the 1990s between the PPP and the PML-N. It is ironic that Nawaz Sharif who is today portraying himself as the champion of the Chief Justice is the same man who led a self-imposed war against the then Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah in 1997 who had earlier ruled against his restoration to power in 1993 and had summoned Sharif for a contempt of court hearing. Sharif’s loyalists physically stormed the Supreme Court to eventually force Shah’s resignation.
This situation has also again demonstrated the continued interference of the West in the affairs of Pakistan. As Pakistan’s politicians were fighting with another once again, Pakistanis witnessed the American, British and Australian ambassadors brazenly and openly meeting the key players in this conflict in the last few days. Telephone calls were also received from the British Foreign Secretary David Milliband and the American Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and her so called self styled ‘special envoy’ Richard Holbrooke. Can anyone imagine a Pakistani foreign Minister attempting to influence the outcome of either British or American domestic politics?
Such blatant interference is more evidence that rather then so called ‘people power’, the real power behind the throne has once again pulled the appropriate strings to achieve the objectives the West wanted – to perpetuate Pakistan’s political circus by restoring Zardari’s judicial and political opponents and giving the semblance of street power working in a functional democracy to achieve the desired outcome for the people. Yet this latest soap opera actually detracts from the real and growing crisis facing Pakistan and its people – the continued American attacks on Pakistani soil which have killed so many Pakistani citizens, the widening of military operations by the Pakistan army inside Pakistan and the continued collapse of the Pakistani economy.
The real anger which the Muslims of Pakistan feel is the continued betrayal of Pakistan’s rulers such as Zardari in facilitating these attacks upon their own people. The Sharif brothers, who have attempted to make much of this latest political battle, have also remained relatively silent upon these continued American attacks, the provision of American bases in Pakistan and the supply lines through Pakistan for American and NATO forces inside Afghanistan. When will the Sharif brothers lead a ‘Long March’ to besiege the American embassy in Islamabad rather than continue to meet the American ambassador in their Raiwind residence?
Since the elevation of Barack Obama to power America has firmly shown that it views Pakistan as the next target in its War on Terror. Just two days before the Zardari regime caved in, America launched its fifth drone attack inside Pakistan since Obama came to power which killed 25 people. A day after the restoration of the Chief Justice, America launched its sixth attack which killed another 5 people. America’s continued attacks threaten to ignite a civil war inside Pakistan as the people in the NWFP province recognise the complicity of their rulers in this bloodshed. Yet Pakistan’s politicians celebrate and claim that all is well when in the space of 96 hours America has killed with impunity.
The restoration of the Chief Justice will not solve Pakistan’s problems. The judiciary in a democracy can only be as good as the laws created by its legislative organs – and in Pakistan’s case that means the laws framed by the Zardari regime or the next foolish politician who comes to power. This Chief Justice or indeed any other will have to judge by the laws this corrupt political system throws up. Whether a democratic ruler or a military dictator, the system in Pakistan has demonstrated time after time that it has failed the people miserably as it continues to serves its real political masters. Now 61 years after its creation, these corrupt rulers are bringing Pakistan to its knees with their continued co-operation with the American agenda – an agenda that seeks to create division, perpetuate bloodshed and eventually destroy Pakistan.
The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم said: “A believer is not stung from the same hole twice.” [Bukhari and Muslim]
The real solution to Pakistan’s problems can only be achieved by uprooting this manipulative system and implementing Allah’s law, the Shariah, which cannot be changed. That can only be done through the re-establishment of the Khilafah.