US still playing ‘Dumb’ on the issue of Judiciary in Pakistan

March 13th, 2008 Sana · No Comments

In a press briefing given by the US State Department on 10th March a few questions were raised on Pakistan and its ongoing judicial & political crisis. It seems that the US Government is still not willing to come clean and talk about the restoration or independence of judiciary, despite one reporters direct question talking about the independent judiciary being a pillar for US democracy.

Its ironic to see that the US government meddling in Pakistan’s affairs to the extent of deliberately ignoring the judicial problem and rubber stamping the Martial Law enforced by their blue-eyed boy-wonder [Musharraf] on Nov 3rd. One has to logically question if America really wants to resolve the terrorism issue in this region, as without a proper judicial system no one can expect the criminals to be brought to justice let alone stop the chaos in the country.

The recent increase in suicidal bombings will got to show that we are not faring any better under the authoritarian regime, the problems will not magically disappear. American officials may deny any claim but this recent ‘happy go lucky’ democracy which will come under Asif Zardari is yet again being rubber stamped into approval by the Americans. So much of meddling in into the politics of our country, I have the urge to directly hold the American Government responsible for the chaos in Pakistan.

QUESTION: Well, but clearly, you do not – you have not wanted to call for the restoration of the justices and I think the unstated reason has been the fear that they would then declare President Musharraf’s selection to be illegal and therefore potentially remove him from his current office. So given that you’ve had a view on this matter, you know, are you not reaching out to the opposition politicians to say, “Well, we actually don’t think you should do this and here’s why,” or –

MR. MCCORMACK: No. Look, those are entirely their decisions to make. And our stated and unstated reason concerning this has entirely to do with the fact that this is Pakistani democracy and these are Pakistani laws and the Pakistani constitution and we’re not in the business of interpreting their laws or their constitution for them. Any of the actions that they take within their political system and any of the outcomes of those actions are going to be generated entirely by Pakistanis, not by us.

QUESTION: Well, I mean, following on that, though, I mean, given that an independent judiciary is a pillar of U.S. democracy and it –

MR. MCCORMACK: That’s right.

QUESTION: Would you not think it’s a good idea to have an independent judiciary, however it is erected or resurrected in Pakistan?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, again, there are two sides – if you’re in Pakistan, there are two sides to that question that you have. As a general matter, an independent judiciary that upholds the application of the rule of law? Absolutely. But again, you will get within the Pakistani political system, as I have read about it in the newspapers, a dispute as to the interpretation of Pakistani laws and the Pakistani constitutions. We –

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

MR. MCCORMACK: Look, I’m not — and I’m not here to be a lawyer for either side. That’s not my job. My job is to talk about what U.S. policies are and, you know, it is our view that these are issues that need to be handled solely by the Pakistanis, needed to be – they need to be decided on only by the Pakistanis. You know, we don’t have a vote in this nor should we. We are prepared to work with the government as it goes forward on issues of mutual concern and certainly, we are going to continue to pursue our national interests with respect to Pakistan and it’s no secret that those involve, in large part, working on fighting the war on terror.

In our view, however, their success in fighting extremists, violent extremists and terrorists, whether they’re in Pakistan or the border regions along the Pakistan and Afghanistan border, is furthered by having a stable, prosperous, more democratic Pakistan and one that is back on the pathway to democracy, one in which the people have confidence in their government that is working for them and one in which they have confidence in the institutions of Pakistan, including the judiciary.

Credit Azhar Masood