Pakistan's Chief Justice Awarded Medal of Freedom

Honorable Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry inspired a lawyers' revolution against autocracy

On March 9, 2007, Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said "no" to President Pervez Musharraf's request that he resign, and his defiance sparked a revolution of lawyers who refused to allow guns to drown out the voice of the law.

Chaudhry said, "I felt that I was only doing the duty of my conscience." But as the rule of man threatened to overwhelm the rule of law, his defiance guided Pakistan's march to justice. "It was the proclamation of a new manifesto for Pakistan, a declaration that the pursuit of justice cannot be subverted."

The military stormed the Supreme Court and placed the justices under house arrest, but lawyers intensified the pressure on the foundation of the government, eroding support for the dictator. The march to the rule of law toppled Musharraf, and on August 18, 2008, he entered his resignation from the presidency.

The Medal of Freedom is the highest honor given by the Harvard Law School Association, and has previously been awarded to the team which litigated Brown v. Board of Education and to South African President Nelson Mandela.

Chief Justice Chaudhry was officially recognized with the award in November 2007, during the period of his house arrest in Pakistan, but he was only recently able to come to the United States to receive the honor. Dean Kagan, in presenting the award, praised Chaudhry, stating that his contribution to the rule of law was inestimable. He accepted the award on behalf of all the lawyers, professionals and students who ran the movement for the rule of law in Pakistan.

Chief Justice Chaudhry acknowledged that there is still a long road ahead as the people fight to turn the wheels of history toward constitutional order in Pakistan. The entrenched politicians, who are highly organized, are being squeezed on the one side by militant insurgents and on the other by judicial insurgents. The answer, he said, is the rule of law, which is "inhospitable to both dictatorship and terror."

As the Pakistani judiciary moves toward the independence needed to protect a stable constitutional order, Chief Justice Chaudhry predicts the rule of law will be a boon to the developing nation's economy. "The struggle now is about separation of power, the role of the judiciary, rule of law and ridding the judiciary of enslavement to the executive." This battle is one that has been won by peaceful means before. "The Pakistani gun has a history of winning over Pakistani law. The law should win over the gun."

Source: Harvard Law Record (Harvard Law School’s Independent Newspaper)

Iftikhar receives prestigious freedom medal

NEW YORK: Deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has made a stirring appeal to 'America’s judicial, legal and academic fraternities' to help Pakistan’s judiciary discard the 'rule of man' and establish the rule of law.

'What we have is rule of man. What we need is rule of law. What we cannot live without is a judiciary that is immune to political interference,' said Justice Iftikhar at Harvard Law School in Cambridge (Massachusetts) on Wednesday.

He said: 'You must help Pakistan transform itself. Rule of law is Pakistan’s national consensus. And we must all side with Pakistan’s national consensus.'

Justice Iftikhar made the speech after he was awarded the prestigious medal of freedom, an honour bestowed on two other recipients, South African leader Nelson Mandela and Justice Thurgood Marshall of the US Supreme Court.

He told a large gathering of students and faculty members: 'I stand here for all those Pakistanis who have risen against despotism, dictatorship, brutality, tyranny and injustice. I also stand here for all those Pakistanis who stand for the principle that no one is above the law and all those Pakistanis who agree with Thomas Paine that ‘in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other’.'

He said that Pakistani autocrats, whether uniformed or otherwise, were trying to turn the wheels of history in the wrong direction.

'Our autocrats, whether uniformed or otherwise, while decreeing a democratic order are, at the same time, postponing the establishment of an independent judiciary to an ever more distant future. Such democracy is bound to fail; you can’t have a constitutional democracy without security of tenure for the judges,' he added.

In Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar said, both civilian as well as uniformed autocrats had been influencing judicial decision-making for the past six decades.

He pointed out that judicial reforms were a high stake venture and said every reform undertaking had potential losers and potential gainers. 'Potential losers, if our judiciary is to become truly independent, include civilian as well as uniformed politicians and our intelligence agencies.

Potential gainers: the general population at large and the economy. There are two problems: First, potential losers are also our principal decision-makers so they resist reforms. Second, potential losers are organised, potential gainers are not.'

Justice Iftikhar said that economies of countries which had 'rule of law' prospered as against dictatorships and autocracies.

'Remember, almost all of Fortune 500 companies are a product of economies where the law rules supreme. At the same time, the poorest of the poor continue to dwell in countries where men govern as opposed to law. A government of laws stimulates economic growth. A government of men impedes economic growth,' he said.

Tribute paid to Justice Iftikhar at NY bar ceremony

NEW YORK, Nov 18: Deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry received Honorary Membership of the New York City Bar Association on Monday.

President of the association Patricia Hynes presented a framed citation to Justice Iftikhar in recognition of his efforts to uphold the rule of law.

“This is a very proud moment for our association,” Ms Hynes told Justice Iftikhar. “We are proud to be your colleagues,” she said.

A large gathering of lawyers and other guests gave him a standing ovation.Expressing his gratitude to members of the association, Justice Iftikhar said he had accepted the honour in the name of the people of Pakistan who have struggled against military dictatorship, tyranny and injustice.

“No democracy can survive without an independent judiciary. There can be no democracy without law. Lack of justice produces inequalities. Only independent judiciary can checkmate extremism”, he said.

“While parliament is sovereign, the courts too have a vital function,” he added.He paid tribute to American lawyers for supporting the lawyers’ movement in Pakistan in their struggle to restore independence of judiciary. Pakistani lawyers, especially the young, have been in the forefront of the struggle.Justice Iftikhar was introduced by US Judge Jed Rakoff who praised his courage in upholding the rule of law.

He recalled some of Justice Iftikhar’s important judgments, which went against the establishment, despite the pressures brought on him. He praised him for standing up to former president Pervez Musharraf so that the cause of justice was upheld, a stance that endeared him to the people.

Judge Rakoff narrated in detail the hardships Justice Iftikhar underwent after being ousted by Gen (retd) Musharraf and said he never gave up.Justice Iftikhar is the eighth person to be conferred honorary membership by the New York City Bar.

Prior recipients include former Chief Justice of the United States William Rehnquist and former Chief Justice of India P.N. Bhagwati. Former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association Aitzaz Ahsan presented to the New York City Bar Association a crest on behalf of Pakistani lawyers as an expression of gratitude to New York’s lawyers community for their support.

A thumping victory!

By Nauman Qaiser

‘Kurd’ is a brand name with considerable cachet. That’s why, the marketing gurus of the lawyers’ movement did not need to burn midnight oil to secure a thumping victory for Mr. Ali Ahmed Kurd as president of the Supreme Court Bar Association. Moreover, this victory was a forgone conclusion, given the support pro-movement lawyers enjoy among the legal fraternity on the one hand; and deteriorating standing of the pro-government lawyers led by the Attorney General, the law minister, and, to the chagrin of many Jiyalaz, Malik Qayyum, on the other hand. Even the use of government machinery by the law minister and his cahoots to buy the votes of the senior lawyers by bribing them different legal posts did not bear fruit.

This victory, which, in a way, is reminiscent of Feb 18 triumph of the democratic forces, is indeed a new beginning, a new awakening, a new impetus for the movement of independence of judiciary, rule of law and supremacy of constitution; a fresh hope for the millions of Pakistanis who are facing the brunt of the economic and energy crisis confronted by the country today; a light at the end of the tunnel for the relatives of thousands of “missing persons” who have been made a scapegoat in the ‘war on terror’; and an insidious blow to the present government’s efforts to sweep the Judiciary issue under the carpet.

What this victory has brought home is the fact that the on-going struggle for the restoration of the superior judiciary that was unceremoniously removed from their offices on November 3 last year has not died down, as portrayed by some pro-government elements. On the contrary, it has, after a temporary hiatus – due to scorching heat, summer holidays, and the month of Ramzan -- re-invigorated itself, and from now on, it is only going to get stronger and stronger in the able leadership of Mr. Ali Ahmed Kurd. The massive turn out by the lawyers, members of the civil society, workers of the political parties and the traders at the weekly protest rallies, especially the one taken out on November 3 this year in Rawalpindi-Islamabad, besides the locking of the subordinate courts by the lawyers of the Lahore Bar Association followed by the registration of FIRs against the lawyers show that the movement is here to stay.

One may not disagree with the modus operandi of the Lahore Bar lawyers, but the fact of the matter is that it was after exhausting all the legal and moral options at their disposal that the lawyers took recourse to such an extreme measure. When 60 judges of the superior judiciary are sacked with just one stroke of the pen; when the members of the legal community are beaten, tortured and incarcerated merely for exercising their right to freedom of expression; when “promises are not ayaats and ahadith, but are just mere political statements”; and when an elected government is bent on giving indemnity to an usurper, it is naive to expect that the people would stick to the legal niceties any more and let others trample on their rights with impunity.

In this backdrop, the victory of Mr. Kurd is a silver lining. A perfect mixture of passion and prudence – with a higher tinge of passion depicted by his fiery speeches, he has all the ingredients not only to counter these sophistries, broken promises and double talks of cunning politicians, but also to steer the ship of the on-going movement to a successful culmination. Moreover, he does not carry with himself the stigma of being associated with any pro-government political party, as did his predecessor Aaitaz Ahsan.

This is not to doubt latter’s commitment to the cause, but the fact remains that he is a member of the central executive of PPPP, and is bound to be influenced by the policies of his party. To the cynics, his decision not to stage the ‘dharna’ was one of the examples of the influence his party wields over him. Having said that, we, the Pakistanis, are proud to have finally produced a leader of Aaitaz Ahsan’s standing, who, despite his all-too-human foibles, continues to be the torch bearer in this struggle for the establishment of rule of law, supremacy of the constitution and independence of judiciary in the country.

Nevertheless, the road ahead for Mr. Kurd, Aaitaz, Hamid Khan and other leaders of the legal fraternity is strewn with a lot of difficulties. The present political dispensation is adamant in its stance that the deposed judges have to take a fresh oath to be ‘re-instated’ to their offices. In the process, the government has, as per the terms and the conditions of the notorious deal, given indemnity to the November 3 actions of Mr. Musharraf. Lawyers’ stance, on the other hand, says that all those actions were extra-constitutional, and hence the judges need not take a fresh oath; only an executive order would suffice – a view endorsed by the majority of the legal minds in the country and worldwide.

At the critical juncture of Pakistan’s history when we are almost on the verge of default, with foreign exchange reserves fast depleting, one fails to fathom the total vacuity of government’s thinking as far as the judicial crisis is concerned. The PPPP-led government should, instead of lingering the issue, solve it forthwith, so that all the energies could be focused on other potent issues afflicting the country. No investor is willing to invest in Pakistan, given the prevailing uncertainty with in the judicial system of Pakistan, besides the deteriorating law and order situation compounded by the on-going ‘war on terror’ in the western borders of Pakistan. Shortage of energy, especially electricity, with the poor citizens facing 10 to 12-hour load-shedding a day, has further dampened the confidence of the rank and file in the ability of the incumbent government to deliver. Moreover, the long-awaited aid from the ‘Friends of Pakistan’ may not be forthcoming, and as a last resort, the economic moguls of the country will have to resort to IMF.

In short, Pakistan is in an economic and financial predicament, which can be solved to a large extent by the re-instatement of the ‘deposed’ judiciary, thereby not only restoring the confidence of investors into the justice system of Pakistan, but also improving the Law and order situation in the country. One hopes that the present government comes of age, and sheds it intransigence; otherwise, it will have to suffer the fate of the previous government and its mentor, Mr. Musharraf, whose removal from the office of president was made possible solely due to efforts of the lawyers’ community.