CJ receives Holbrooke, calls on Zardari

[mcuk2001]

By Matiullah Jan
Saturday, 06 Jun, 2009 | 05:29 AM PST |

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry met visiting US envoy Richard Holbrooke in the Supreme Court building on Friday.
‘The meeting was held at the request of the visiting US envoy Mr Holbrooke who came to meet the chief justice in his chambers,’ said Dr Faqir Hussain, Registrar of the Supreme Court. He said that officials of the Foreign Office were present at the meeting.
‘Matters relating to judicial reforms as per national judicial policy and the whole judicial structure of Pakistan were discussed,’ Dr Hussain said.
The meeting comes at a time when Pakistani judiciary is seized with litigations that directly involved interests of the United States. A particular case of concern to the US is that of the missing persons in which intelligence agencies have been accused of either abducting people on suspicion of terrorism or handing them over to the United States. The case of Dr Aafia Siddiqui, who was reportedly abducted from Pakistan and is now in US detention, is also pending in courts. The Supreme Court spokesman denied that the issue of missing persons came up in the meeting.
When contacted, the firebrand leader of lawyers’ movement and president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Ali Ahmed Kurd, declined to comment on the meeting.
PML-N spokesman Siddiquul Farooq who has a case pending in the apex court said: ‘It was a courtesy call by Mr Holbrooke and we believe in the person of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and we believe that no one can derail him from the judicious path.’
Immediately after the meeting, the chief justice went to the presidency to attend the oath-taking ceremony of newly appointed Federal Shariat Court Chief Justice Agha Mohammad Rafique. There he had a one-to-one meeting with President Asif Zardari.
It was for the first time since his restoration that the chief justice visited the presidency and met President Zardari. Justice Iftikhar, it may be mentioned, did not accept earlier invitations from President Zardari.
The last time the chief justice met Mr Zardari was at the Zardari House just before he moved to the presidency after becoming president. After becoming president, Mr Zardari publicly resisted the restoration of Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, till the success of the long march by lawyers in March this year.
One case pending before the Supreme Court and that directly affects President Zardari relates to the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) through which former President General Pervez Musharraf allowed the quashing of corruption charges against PPP leaders, including President Zardari.
Under the new judicial policy reforms spearheaded by the chief justice, judges of the superior court are required to strictly follow the judicial code of conduct which, among other things, require them to stay away from public functions and not to assume executive offices to temporarily fill vacancies created by the president and governors going abroad.
After his first restoration on July 20, 2007, Justice Chaudhry had stopped meeting the president or the prime minister and attending functions hosted by them.



Dawn.com

 

[muse]

Holbrooke’s courtiers?
Ejaz Haider



As I sit in Islamabad, 20 minutes from Pakistan, and between Swat, where I was, and Lahore, where I live, there is great temptation to write about the lighter aspects of my visit to the contested zone. But that has to wait because there is another issue that needs to be talked about. Here goes then.

One, the frequency with which Richard Holbrooke has started coming to Pakistan, he needs to be given some land so he can have a pied-à-terre here. I say this because we are a very hospitable nation, so warm and friendly in fact that even before an American official heads out towards our shores Islamabad stands up en bloc to greet him.

Two, next time Mr Holbrooke or, forget him, any average Joe or Jane arrives in this city, I want to be there to greet them. As for greeting Mr Holbrooke, the correct thing to do is to have the entire cabinet lined up for him.

This time when he was here (is he still around?) I saw only three ministers, and of course the president himself. Doesn’t work this. This protocol is not to my liking. Nothing less than the entire cabinet would do. And pray, where the hell was the prime minister? Why just the president when Mr Holbrooke held court?

I am bullshitting, of course, because my anger at being led by pussies wants me to do the Punjabi on the government and that is not printable. But frankly, what was this freak show in Islamabad with the President of Pakistan standing in attendance like a spineless wonder?

Did protocol demand that the president be in attendance when Holbrooke is holding a press conference with the foreign minister? Clearly not. In fact, if protocol be made the benchmark, even the foreign minister should not have been there.

Protocol is not snobbery; it is about the dignity of a government and that of the state and society it represents. But let no one consider this simply a matter of honour. There are institutional reasons for it and they make a hell of a difference in how the world treats a people.

If we act in the medieval way in which we do, the world would come here looking for the biggest tent in the bazaar. It would know that negotiating with the man in the biggest tent would be enough. The rest of the bazaar could go to hell.

This was the problem with Pervez Musharraf. The world thought it could deal with him. The government machinery didn’t mean much since it was there to carry out Musharraf’s orders. The people didn’t matter because if they did, Musharraf would not be at the helm in the first place.

The last I heard, Musharraf was on a lecture tour, having been pushed out of the system. There have been elections. Apparently, democracy returned to Pakistan in February 2008. And democracy is nothing if not about institutionalisation. Even those in authority must have the legitimacy to exercise their power and that legitimacy depends on a number of conditions and conditionalities.

What might be the problem then?

It is one of extremes. We are either into acts of false bravado or shows of pusillanimity. We have the Taliban on the one hand and courtiers on the other. Punjabi has a way of putting it: we either lift the dhoti from the front or from the backside. Neither approach is right.

It was ridiculous for the president to present himself at Holbrooke’s press conference. It was shameful to see him standing in between the American envoy and his own foreign minister, looking like an aide.

A couple of weeks ago I had given some advice to the president:

“Next time you go to the Yanks or them Yanks come calling, you must act like the president of a big country because, yes, that’s what we are, a big country (population: over 170 million; area: over 800,000 sq km; three times larger than the UK, twice as large as France etc). This means you should not give too much access to the western media; do not have to explain things to them; do not have to be apologetic; insist on the correct protocol which means do not meet every Tom, Dick and Harry who comes even if all of them come together or singly and so on.”

It seems to me that he does not read my column despite the fact that he could do much worse, and he is, than reading me. Basically, I am saying that he should.

We have made a habit of accusing the world of treating us unfairly. We need to realise that by conducting ourselves the way we do, we short-change ourselves. There is absolutely no reason for us to **** a snook at the external world; but nor do we have any reason to supplicate ourselves unto anyone. If we learn to respect ourselves, the world will too.

Finally, the president needs to understand that now that circumstances have put him where he is, he is in a position of high responsibility. When an officer cadet passes out from the military academy, he is required to conduct himself in a manner commensurate with his professional responsibilities. If we expect that of a subaltern, we expect way more from our president, and not because we may like him but because we must respect the office.

But respecting the office also means that we do not like any of its occupants to demean that office.

Ejaz Haider is Consulting Editor of The Friday Times and Op-Ed Editor of Daily Times. He can be reached at sapper@dailytimes.com.pk


If you liked what Ejaz had to say, write to him -- please write to the authors you read, tell them what you liked or disliked and why -- they appreciate it, more than you may realize.

 

[SSGPA1]

Well this was bound to happen ... Many people have been saying that CJP is political and this just proves it.

I would like to know what does CJP think of himself! CJP is not an elected member of the Parliament and he should have declined the meeting request by Holbrooke but instead he meets him.
Now supporters of the CJP would come out and say that there is nothing wrong with it and blah blah ...


This meeting is unethical and completely unprofessional ... Soon after the meeting CJP meets Zardari ... I am ok with this meeting because head of exec and head of judiciary need to work together but this is so bloody odd that it came after CJP met the US envoy

I hope that CJP supporters have the courage to say this was wrong so thta CJP could learn a lesson.

 

[Patriot]

He is probably getting his piece of pie of American $$.

 

[mcuk2001]

fauji PCO se sayasi PRO (PERSONAL RELATION ORDINANCE) tak..

Chief tere dost yaar

mulk ke andar, mulk ke bahar!

aur woh ju thay tere jaan nisaar

Better become now pardadaar!

 

[Bane Blade]

Although I personally don't think he should have had a meeting with Richard holbrooke I do think that he hasn't broken any rules and I most certainly hope it doesn't effect his decision making however I feel that we shouldn't lay accusations without evidence that he gained any money from the US

 

[ajpirzada]

well the thing is CJP was brought back by ppl of pakistan. he is no more a product of NRO or any american deal and therefore wont be influenced by such ppl.

 

[qsaark]

Tuesday, June 09, 2009
By Ansar Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: The meeting of US Special Envoy on Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke with Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was held following advice of the foreign office to the Supreme Court’s registrar.

While the meeting led many tongues wagging with some drawing their own conclusions and raising questions that in cases stretch out to the limits of conspiracy theories, it was neither a one-on-one meeting between the two nor anything bypassing the government’s foreign ministry.

Foreign Ministry sources as well as the registrar office of the Supreme Court confirmed to The News after the Supreme Court registrar received a request from the US embassy for Holbrooke’s desire to call on the chief justice of Pakistan, the matter was referred to the Foreign Ministry for advice.

The Foreign Ministry in its advice said the chief justice in his convenience could meet the visiting US special envoy and his delegation.The Foreign Ministry also deputed its two senior officials to be part of the Justice Iftikhar-Holbrooke meeting which, besides these foreign office officials, was also attended by Supreme Court Registrar Dr Faqir Hussain from the Pakistani side. Holbrooke was assisted by the US ambassador and members of his delegation.

Sources said Holbrooke told Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry that the purpose of his call was to pay a courtesy visit to the top judge of the country, who led a successful judicial movement in Pakistan.

Holbrooke, a foreign ministry source said, also disclosed to the chief justice US Secretary Hillary Clinton, who herself was a prominent lawyer, wanted him to meet Chief Justice Iftikhar during his visit to Pakistan. Holbrooke said he had come to the chief justice to pay his respect to the man, whom he had once watched on the television screen waving to the people after his release from house arrest last year.

Holbrooke said he has also been reading a lot about the efforts at ensuring speedy justice in Pakistan. During the meeting, Holbrooke also inquired about the judicial system of Pakistan, relationship between the judiciary and executive, the application of Islamic and common laws, etc.

The chief justice informed Holbrooke about the salient features of the recently-implemented National Judicial Policy and said the country’s judiciary is today independent. He also emphasised the need of separation of the judiciary from the executive and said the independent posture of the judiciary is a must.

Justice Iftikhar said the judiciary’s foremost effort is to end the backlog of cases and ensure quick justice for which the recently implemented National Judicial Policy is the first major step. The chief justice was also of the view that an independent judiciary is imperative for good governance, economic growth and development of the society.

Foreign Office sources said nothing regarding any particular case pending before the Supreme Court, including that of the missing persons or the NRO, came under discussion in the meeting.

Source: Holbrooke-Iftikhar meeting was approved by Foreign Office

 

[SSGPA1]

he is no more a product of NRO

He was never a product of NRO ... I think you meant PCO ... Yes he is no more a PCO judge BUT he was a PCO judge and according to COD he shouldn't be the CJP of Pakistan ...

 

[ali.abbas00001]

Well this was bound to happen ... Many people have been saying that CJP is political and this just proves it.

I would like to know what does CJP think of himself! CJP is not an elected member of the Parliament and he should have declined the meeting request by Holbrooke but instead he meets him.
Now supporters of the CJP would come out and say that there is nothing wrong with it and blah blah ...


This meeting is unethical and completely unprofessional ... Soon after the meeting CJP meets Zardari ... I am ok with this meeting because head of exec and head of judiciary need to work together but this is so bloody odd that it came after CJP met the US envoy

I hope that CJP supporters have the courage to say this was wrong so thta CJP could learn a lesson.

if they had courage they would have said CJP is and was political

 

[SSGPA1]

Tuesday, June 09, 2009
By Ansar Abbasi
Source: Holbrooke-Iftikhar meeting was approved by Foreign Office

Can you quote a reliable source?

You know, no need to quote anything ... CJP shouldn't have met Holbrooke ... there shouldn't be two opinions on this ...

US helped to brake the ice between Zardari and CJP, period ...

I am saying this for those supporters of CJP in Punjab who came out on streets and defied all road blocks ... CJP meets Holbrooke and then he meets Zardari for the first time ...

People are expecting CJP to be unbiased and all that which they dream about ... if CJP fails his supporters, then it will be a huge disappointment ... another bad thing for Pakistan

So instead of arguing with me, please send letters, emails etc to the CJP and let him know that you (as a Paksitani and a supporter of CJP)didn't like this move at all ...

 

[SSGPA1]

if they had courage they would have said CJP is and was political

This is the problem, we lack courage to accept opposing POVs ...

 

[qsaark]

He was never a product of NRO ... I think you meant PCO ... Yes he is no more a PCO judge BUT he was a PCO judge and according to COD he shouldn't be the CJP of Pakistan ...

And who were the signatory of COD? One who escaped from Pakistan after signing a deal and another who came back to Pakistan after signing a similar deal with a dictator. Moral lesson = Constitution is superior to COD and if constitution has no problem with an ex-PCO CJ, than no one should make it an issue just for the sake of nitpicking.

 

[qsaark]

Can you quote a reliable source?

What reliability is needed for this simple piece of news? That was not a one-to-one meeting, and there were other officials present. That was not something secret or some behind-the-door kind of meeting that you need a 'reliable source'.

Whether CJ should have seen Mr. Holbrooke or not is debatable. However, my Dad has served in GoP for more than 37 years and for last 10 years of his service as a DG. Officers of this and higher level are required to do many things that we (who have not yet reached to that level) simply can not understand. Since we do not know (other than speculations) under what circumstances this meeting took place, I would rather not pass comments.

 

[SSGPA1]

And who were the signatory of COD? One who escaped from Pakistan after signing a deal and another who came back to Pakistan after signing a similar deal with a dictator. Moral lesson = Constitution is superior to COD and if constitution has no problem with an ex-PCO CJ, than no one should make it an issue just for the sake of nitpicking.

This is a good change in your position as in past you posted that COD is equally important.

This is not nitpicking ... this is more of a reminder to ourselves that our CJP who declined all invitations from the Presidency finally is meeting President Zardari at the request of US ...

CJP should have done this a long time ago in order to support democracy and th e current regime but I guess he wanted the Americans to make that request ...