[Recap: Part XI of this serial, over a year ago, underscored Pakistan’s “complicit-oppressor judiciary’s strengths, vulnerabilities and tiered approach to justice.” It ended with a stark note that the judiciary “needed a volcanic shake-up; it needed to be reminded of the fate, met by Sisamnes, a judge during the reign of Cambyses II, the Iranian emperor from the Achaemenid dynasty (560 – 522 BC); and, of course, of the Divine Wrath.”]

Pakistan’s judiciary, instead of being an independent pillar of the state, often serves the interests of the ruling elite and wealthy individuals. This is primarily because self-interest, political patronage, external pressure, and institutional corruption take precedence over constitutional principles.

Moreover, the absence of effective accountability mechanisms allows judicial misconduct to go unchecked, reinforcing a culture of selective justice and favouritism.

That is why it needs a wake-up call. It needs to be reminded of Pakistan’s raison d’être – Islam, and told candidly that it is way below even its non-Muslim counterparts. This can be done in two ways: by refreshing its memory with teachings of the holy Quran and Sunnah on justice, and by displaying the 15th-century Dutch artist, Gerard David’s painting, “The Judgment of Cambyses”, in every Pakistani court.

The absence of effective accountability mechanisms allows judicial misconduct to go unchecked, reinforcing a culture of selective justice and favouritism.

The absence of effective accountability mechanisms allows........

© Daily Times