Nepal
The Himalayan kingdom went through massive upheaval for long years after assassination of the king and his entire family. His brother took over but he was no replacement for the king.
Meanwhile communist armed rebellion shook the country with intermittent tremors of violence and bloodshed across Nepal. The political parties agreed to electoral process based of adult franchise but they easily could not finalise the constitution. Corruption, nepotism and favouritism became rampant in the government establishments.
The first women chief justice of the Supreme Court, Shushila Karki, an independent and strong chief justice was against the political influence or unwanted interference in judiciary. She challenged the power-holders through judicial process. She declared Chief of Commission on Investigation of Abuse of Authority, Nepal anti-corruption body, Lokman Singh Karki an incompetent, in her verdict, who was appointed by the government in a ‘political consensus’.
On 30 April,17 Justice Karki gave a verdict to prosecute three former Chiefs of Nepal police on corruption charges. Justice Karki also issued a warrant arrest against the former Maoist parliamentarian Balkrishna Dhungel.
The ruling parties: Nepali Congress and the Maoist Centre felt threatened and decided to go against the judicial intervention. They alleged Justice Karki was biased to choose the judges in the political and corruption cases; she was guided by anti-government motives in high profile cases.
Nepali Congress, and the coalition partner– the Maoist centre, moved impeachment motion. Their main disappointment was with the recent Supreme Court verdict of the justice Karki-led bench that rejected the government’s decision to appoint chief of Nepal police.
Nepal Government was unhappy against the court ruling for judiciary interference in the role of executives. It resulted in an impeachment motion, which further deepened the crisis between the executives and the judiciary.
In April 2017, the lawmakers from Nepali Congress and Maoist parties registered an impeachment in the parliament against Supreme Court Chief Justice Shushila Karki and suspended her from her position.
Political leaders were not happy with the role of court. The tensions between the executive, the judiciary and parliament came to forefront. The ruling parties and opposition were divided on the various cases based on an entirely political way of thinking, notably linked to the reintegration of Maoist combatants, the promotion of senior army and police officers, and implementing National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) recommendations to act on conflict era crimes.
The conflict-era crimes were withdrawn from the court, protecting officers involved in war crimes and demonstrating a lack of political will to confront perpetrators and denial of justice. Hundreds of accused and alleged perpetrators continued to serve, rise in ranks and earned benefit from the authorities without facing criminal trial.
The courts, political leaders, civil society and media remained silent against the alleged perpetrators and raised little voice against such criminal gangsters active in Nepali politics and security forces.
In 2013, the then Supreme Court Chief Justice Khilraj Regmi was accepted and appointed as Chief of the Council of Ministers and acted as the chief executive of the government and chief of the judiciary. He introduced a truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) ordinance (March 2013) to grant amnesty for ‘political’ crimes and damaged the credibility of Nepal’s independent judiciary. The ordinance was nullified by the Supreme Court Verdict of 2 January 2014.
The four former chief justices of the Supreme Court, including NHRC Chair Anupraj Sharma, on 1 May 2017 issued a joint press statement that said: “the impeachment is biased and has a vested political interest in that the impeachment motion has been registered by compromising the judicial independence and with the intent of weakening the judiciary by triggering controversies”.
On 5th May,17 Supreme Court justice Cholendra Shamsher JB Rana issued an interim order against the impeachment and suspension of chief justice.
Pakistan
At 5 p.m. on November 3, 2007, Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, acting in his capacity as army chief, suspended the constitution and declared a state of emergency, replacing the constitution with a Provisional Constitution Order (PCO).
Musharraf announced in a televised address to the nation that he had been forced into subverting the constitution to combat terrorism and Islamist extremists.
In the name of fighting terrorism and Islamist extremism, Musharraf instead mounted the crackdown on lawyers, judges, human rights activists, opposition political party members, journalists, students, and academics. They were sent to jail or placed under house arrest.
In the eight months prior to the crackdown beginning November 3, 2007 the lawyers' movement had done more to challenge the pillars of military rule than the political opposition had done in eight years.
The conduct of the crackdown lends insights into the Musharraf government's disregard for the country's democratic institutions. Musharraf started his crackdown by dismissing the judges who refused to recognize the state of emergency and placing them under house arrest. On the evening on November 3,07 a seven-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry convened to issue an order barring the government from proclaiming emergency rule and urging government functionaries not to implement emergency orders.A few hours later, these judges were removed from the Supreme Court premises which were sealed by army troops, and the judges detained. Musharraf summarily fired Chief Justice Chaudhry.Much of Pakistan's senior judiciary was taken into custody and two-thirds of them were put under de-facto house arrest.
For several years, the Pakistani judiciary felt helpless and tried hard to accommodate the military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf who juggled with law and constitution. He as army chief seized power in1999, arrested PM Nawaz Sharif, continued to Rule Pakistan as a General wearing uniform and President. His one term was regularised by the parliament and the top court.
But in Mar 07 he fired the country’s top judge, whose rulings had begun to challenge the Musharraf government. Pakistani lawyers and others took to protests in street of Pak. An unprecedented outburst of frustration signalled serious trouble for General Musharraf.
General Musharraf’s critics contend that under the Constitution, he has no power to dismiss the chief justice unless he has been found guilty of breaking the law. They believe he ousted the chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, out of fear that the judge would raise questions about attempt to be re-elected president while remaining army chief. General Musharraf’s term as president expired in October,07.
The legal dispute was over the constitutionality of the president simultaneously holding the office of army chief. In 2003, Parliament gave the general the leeway to hold both offices, but that was for his current term -upto October 07. The dual role became a symbol of encroachment of the military into their everyday lives of people.
The turmoil over the chief justice’s firing began on March 9,2007 when General Musharraf summoned Mr. Chaudhry CJP to an army office in the garrison town of Rawalpindi and ordered him to resign or face unspecified charges. The tableau was broadcast on television — the general in uniform, the judge in his courtroom attire. It was an image that Pakistanis repeatedly recall as a symbol of the “arrogance” of the military.TheSupreme court Bar council called it a frontal assault on the remnants of the independence of the judiciary.
The judge refused to resign, and things only got worse. Television images showed Mr. Chaudhry being manhandled and stuffed into a police car. Then came protests by lawyers across the country, and images of baton-wielding police beating themmercilessly.
At least seven judges, along with a deputy attorney general, resigned in protest.
Musharraf rose to prominence when he was elevated as head of the armed Forces by then Prime Minister Sharif in October 1998. He was responsible for Kargil infiltration in 1999. He had serious differences with Prime Minister Sharif. PMunsuccessfully attempted to remove Musharraf from the army's leadership.
In retaliation, he staged a coup d'état in 1999 which allowed Musharraf to take-over Pakistan and subsequently placed Prime Minister Sharif under house-arrest. Nawaz Sharif finally landed in Adiala Prison for trial.
Musharraf's position was dramatically weakened in early 2008. He tendered his resignation in a threat to face potential impeachment movement led by the ruling Pakistan People's Party in 2008. Musharraf moved to London in self-imposed exile. He later returned to Pakistan to participate in the general elections held in 2013. However, he was faced with legal battles after the country's high courts issued warrants against him and Aziz for their alleged involvement in the assassinations of Benazir Bhutto and Bugti. Musharraf was disqualified from taking part in the elections by High Court judges in April 2013. On 31 March 2014, Musharraf was booked and charged with high treason for implementing emergency rule and suspending the constitution in 2007. On 31 August 2017, he was declared absconder by anti-terrorist court in Benazir murder case.
Several former Presidents and Prime Ministers and other political leaders are facing criminal cases in various courts of Pakistan Judiciary seems to be firm and well entrenched in the saddle. Some of its verdicts and remarks so speak.
Court in early Jan this year ordered the federal cabinet to review its decision to place the names of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and other politicians on the Exit Control List (ECL).
Minister for Interior Shehryar Afridi had to appear before the court after Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar summoned him over the placement of 172 suspects — who were named in a money laundering scam — on the ECL.
"Review this decision, take it back to the cabinet," the chief justice said.
The following day Imran cabinet met and changed earlier decision.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Nisar and Justice Ijazul Ahsan was hearing a suomotu case on a delay in a 2015 probe into fake bank accounts allegedly used to launder billions of rupees.
Several bigwigs, including Asif A. Zardari former President, his sister Faryal Talpur, former president of Summit Bank Hussain Lawai and Omni Group's Anwar Majeed, have been nominated in the case. Property tycoon Malik Riaz, his son-in-law Zain, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari have also been included in the criminal cases.
Referring to the placement of Chief Minister Shah's name on the ECL, the chief justice said: "I find it very strange that a sitting chief minister's name was placed on the ECL."
"What if the [Sindh] chief minister has to travel to Turkey with the prime minister?" the chief justice asked. He referring to rumours regarding a push by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government to topple the PPP-led Sindh government and impose governor rule in the province, warned that "democracy must not be derailed".
He said that the judiciary had not allowed democracy to be derailed in the past "when there were threats".
Photo – Courtesy
(The writer Mr. VK Gaur is former IG, BSF and has written more than 50 Books on the issues related to Defence, Strategy and Internal security. )
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